The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee of Maine’s legislature in September will look at a study of the feasibility of authorizing one or more additional casinos in the state.
Senator John Tuttle, who is co-chairman of the committee, said that a proposal last year by a special government commission had too many special interests in it to be successful. He told NPBN last week, “I told the president of the Senate that, just by the make-up of the committee, you never were going to have any consensus. But I think that having the committee do it this time, having the whole legislative committee, makes a lot of sense.”
A consultant, WhiteSand Gaming, that has done similar studies for several other states, will prepare the $100,000 study.
The senator added, “We really haven’t had a comprehensive study of where the regions are economically, where the best place for the venue is for the state of Maine. If you look at other states, New Hampshire did that, the state of Massachusetts did that, Ohio, other states. It sort of takes the politics out of it.”
Senator Garret Mason, who is also on the committee, agreed. “Every study that has been done has been done by an interested party. It’s been done by a tribe, by a gaming company that wants to come in here to game. This is the first true independent study done by the state.”
The study will determine if there is a market for a casino and whether there ought to be more than one. It will also look at the effect of gaming on the state lottery.
Some state officials, like Finance Commission Richard Rosen, warn that gaming in the region may be near to saturation.
