PLEASANT POINT, Maine – The Passamaquoddy Tribe will send a tribal delegation on the road this summer to hold informational sessions on a proposed racino project that will go to a referendum vote in November.
”We’ve started a grass-roots effort to educate the citizens about our initiatives. We’re going to have a tribal delegation traveling to cities and towns to answer questions and talk about the benefits of a racino in our community and within the whole state,” Passamaquoddy tribal state Rep. Donald Soctomah said.
Both the House and Senate approved a bill that would have allowed the tribe to bring slot machines to Washington County, Maine’s poorest area and part of the Passamaquoddy’s ancestral territory. Minutes after the Senate vote on April 26, Gov. John Baldacci vetoed the bill as expected.
”My opposition to the expansion of gambling in Maine is well documented and unwavering,” Baldacci said in a prepared statement. ”What is most troubling about this bill, however, is that it would expand gambling without the approval of Maine’s citizens.”
Because the bill emerged from a citizens’ petition, the proposal will go to Maine voters in a referendum in November.
If approved, the tribe hopes to build a destination resort with a harness-racing track, 1,500 slot machines, a hotel and a conference center.
The tribe is considering a 350-acre property in Calais, Maine, which is privately owned by a willing seller. Calais shares a border with New Brunswick, Canada.
”It’s the third or fourth largest entry point in Canada from the U.S. They talk about 1.2 million people a year crossing that border and they’re putting up a new international bridge, so we’re hoping to capture that traffic as people come on or off the bridge,” Soctomah said.
The racino would utilize a new technology – all-weather tracks that allow racing to take place year-round instead of the six-month period in the Northeast when horses are usually bedded down, Soctomah said.
The tribe has been trying to establish a gaming facility for the past 15 years.
In 2003, Maine voters rejected a tribal casino by a 2 – 1 margin while approving a non-Native owned racino in Bangor.
But an election-day survey last November found voters’ opinions had changed with nearly 60 percent opposing a ban on slot machines. Supporters of the tribal racino gathered more than 50,000 signatures on their petition last year, and Hollywood Slots, the non-Native casino, operated successfully for more than a year without the increases in crime and degradation predicted by the anti-Indian casino crowd. These and other events, including editorials in Maine newspapers that have abandoned their opposition to tribal gaming, indicate that an increasing number of citizens support tribal gaming as a matter of fairness.
”This state and voters in the past haven’t supported us. Meanwhile, in the last 15 years, the state lottery has expanded 10 times. They’ve got a super lottery and a nontribal racino, so gaming has just expanded, and I have a hard time understanding why we come up with the ideas and then they continue on with them. It seems like they don’t want the tribe to get ahead economically. I’m just hoping that the voters see the benefit in the existing racino and that they see the tribe is committed to making this happen and giving a big percentage back to the community,” Soctomah said.
Hollywood Slots gave 39 percent of its $37 million in net revenue to the state and local funds last year. The tribe intends to top that.
”We were offering 41 percent of the net, and the tribe last month agreed to increase that to 43.5 percent. There are quite a few components for education, health, the general fund where percentages go back to the state and local communities. Because Washington County is the most depressed and poverty-stricken and we have a 50 percent unemployment rate. We’ve put into the legislation that all the education money will go back to Washington County to fund the schools, the county college and the university in the county,” Soctomah said.
The grass-roots road show will include Soctomah, the tribal chiefs, council members and perhaps some legislators, Soctomah said.
”All the senators and representatives from Washington County are strong supporters and we’ll try to utilize them as much as possible,” Soctomah said.
