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 A Maine law which requires casinos to be at least 100 miles apart is raising questions about plans for a new casino that would be 94 miles away from the state's only existing casino, Hollywood Slots in Bangor.
Black Bear Entertainment is planning to build the state's first full-blown casino along Route 26 in Oxford and voters have already approved the project but an attorney for the Scarborough Downs Horsetrack will not let the project get underway. Even though the new casino would be more than 100 miles away by any method of travel, Scarborough Downs attorney Ed MacColl insists that the straight-line distance from the casinos is what matters and that the current laws on distance between casinos will need to be done away with if the project is to move forward.
"Courts around the country virtually always interpret it to mean straight-line distance," said attorney MacColl said. "Whether something is within X miles of something else by straight line isn't ambiguous. But whether it's within X distance on the route of ordinary travel does get ambiguous because you can have a debate as to what's the route of ordinary travel."
Black Bear finally took the issue to the Gambling Control Board on Wednesday and the board is expected to vote on the matter on Friday. If they decide that the distance should be measured in a straight line construction of the casino could be seriously delayed. Black Bear spokesman Peter Martin said the company would ask the Legislature to change the law allowing the project to move forward in the event that the decision does not turn in their favor but it could be several months before any legislation is passed.
Black Bear contends that laws on other gambling matters, such as how far off-track betting parlors have to be from each other, measure distances using the "commonly used roadways" and the company does not seem happy about having to jump through hoops in order to get the project underway.
It appears that Scarborough Downs is hoping to build a new track with slots machines in Biddeford which would not be possible under the current laws. The company's is basically complicating things for Black Bear in order to gain an ally in their fight for new legislation.
"What I've proposed to Black Bear is we go to the Legislature and explain that in both our views both projects conceptually won the support of Maine voters in statewide referendums, but both projects need some fine tuning to be allowed to go forward," MacColl said. "Black Bear said they would get back to us, but they didn't and now they want that their project can go forward and our project can't."
We'll leave it up to readers to decide if the case is legitimate or just plain petty.
As always, stay tuned to Casinofan for more news and updates.
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