PARIS — More than 300 people turned out Wednesday night to hear arguments for and against building a casino in Oxford County.

After the first hour of the two-hour debate, Peter Eklund said he still supported the effort to bring a four-season, resort-style casino to Western Maine.

“It’s not about the casino or the resort for me,” said Eklund, a former North Norway resident. “It’s about the jobs and the people here in this area; they need something.”

Mary Taylor, a part-time resident of the region for decades, said she hadn’t heard anything to sway her no vote to the yes side.

“It’s the same campaign material,” Taylor said. “It’s deceptive; it’s outrageous to me they are talking to people like this is a jobs program. It’s gambling, pure and simple, and it’s meant to make the developers of this resort rich.”

On the stage in a debate sponsored by the Norway-based Advertiser Democrat, a Sun Media publication, were casino supporters John Williams, executive director of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce, and Rob Lally, a principal investor with Black Bear Entertainment, the company behind the referendum initiative. Lally is also the spokesman for Maine Taxpayers Taking Charge, the political action committee supporting the casino.

Representing those opposed to the plan were Jeffrey Rosenblatt, a local resident and a member of Oxford Hills No on 1, and Denis Bailey, the primary spokesman for CasinosNo!, a statewide political action committee that has opposed all recent casino efforts in Maine.

Supporters say the proposed $165 million project would create 1,700 local jobs, 1,000 related jobs statewide and 800 construction jobs during the five-year construction phase. The proposal, which allows slot machines and table games such as blackjack and roulette, would generate $60 million in taxes for the state and would have an estimated annual payroll of about $80 million, according to supporters.

“It’s astonishing to me that anyone can be negative, even if it’s one more job that it’s generating,” Williams said.

But opponents say those numbers, largely based on a single study by a professor commissioned by casino supporters, are squishy at best.

Rosenblatt said the professor who did the study admits that the job numbers assume several scenarios that are not guaranteed to happen. He also pointed to other examples in the U.S. where casinos were touted as a way to rebuild or save dying local economies.

“Unemployment is higher in the counties around this country that have casinos than in counties that do not have casinos,” Rosenblatt said.

He and Lally exchanged opposing views on the quality of the facility that would be built in the Oxford Hills. Lally insisted it would be a high-quality resort building; Rosenblatt repeated over and over that it would be little more than a 65,000-square-foot “slot-machine barn with a restaurant.”

The money coming to the casino would not be “new” money but money moved from other places in the Maine economy. A gain for the Oxford Hills would likely result in a loss for other places in Maine or a gain for the casino could very well result in lost revenue for other businesses in the region, Rosenblatt said.

“It’s not going to be new money,” Rosenblatt said. “Most of the money is just going to be shifted from one side of the economy to the other.”

But Williams said he believed the casino would be an added attraction for the region. It would give outsiders another reason to come to and stop in the Oxford Hills. He countered Rosenblatt’s description of a visit to Foxwoods in Connecticut as being a depressing sight.

Williams said his experience with casinos in Las Vegas on various conventions over the years were always positive and that he wasn’t a gambler. “I didn’t see a lot of depressed people,” Williams said. “I did see a lot of people having a good time and enjoying it.”

Bailey also dismantled the study the pro side depends on for its facts.

“I wouldn’t be too dazzled by them,” Bailey said. “These numbers are not always what they are promised to be.” He said the professor who did the study also did a study in advance of the Hollywood Slots casino in Bangor and was off in the end by 200 percent.

“It’s a good thing he doesn’t work for NASA or we wouldn’t have hit the moon,” Bailey quipped.

Lally, also one of the owners of the Mt. Abram Ski Resort in nearby Greenwood, said the owners group, including former Oxford Plains Speedway owner Bob Bahre and his son, Gary Bahre, were committed to as much as possible employing Maine people, both in the construction of the resort and in its future operations.

The debate was moderated by Susan Sharon, deputy director of news for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

Panelists asking questions included Judy Meyer, managing editor, Sun Journal; Jeff Wade, news director, WGAN news radio; and Brian Yocono, WCSH Channel 6.

sthistle@sunjournal.com

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