LEWISTON — The Oxford casino’s success at the polls earlier this month is already helping backers of siting a casino at Bates Mill No. 5.
Collectors picked up another 20,000 signatures statewide at the polls earlier this month. That should be enough to push the Lewiston effort over the top and onto the November 2011 Election Day ballot.
“We have more than 70,000 now and we need 56,000, so we should be there,” said Stavros Mendros of Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment, the Lewiston group promoting the downtown casino plan.
What’s more, Mendros said, the Oxford vote has convinced outside investors that Maine gambling is here to stay.
“We had talked with one potential investor before the election, but two more called us up the day after,” Mendros said. “Once Oxford passed, they were convinced. One of them said it looks like the days of Maine opposing gambling were over.”
Mendros said the local group continues to negotiate with potential outside investors, but they have plenty of time. He doesn’t expect to announce a deal with any new partners until May 2011.
Day-to-day concerns, getting the signatures verified and confirming a spot on the 2011 ballot are more important. The casino group owes a second $10,000 option payment to the city of Lewiston on Feb. 28.
A $30,000 payment is due July 31, 2011. A final $100,000 payment will be due on Dec. 31, 2011 — two months after the matter goes before voters at a statewide referendum.
“The only downside we’re seeing is in the size of our project,” Mendros said. “Now, we may have to go with the $50 million project instead of the $150 million plan. That’s too bad, because I was looking forward to the bigger project.”
If statewide voters approve next year, the massive, saw-tooth-roofed Bates Mill No. 5 at the corner of Main and Canal streets would become Maine’s next casino. Exactly what it would look like would depend on the national partner.
“The most important thing for us is to negotiate the best deal we can for the city,” Mendros said.
Mendros’ plans currently assume a smaller, slot-machine-based operation, although a casino with table games is an option. It’s included in the ballot proposal, in a section that says if Maine voters approve an expansion of legal gambling for one casino, they approve it for all. That would allow developers to include table games in Lewiston and Bangor, assuming the Lewiston measure passes.
“It’s just the fair thing to do,” Mendros said. “We’re not trying to get a monopoly on anything.”
The Lewiston referendum also exempts Lewiston from the current statewide ban on new casinos within 100 miles of another gaming operation.
The casino would mean economic development for Lewiston, bringing in between $2 million and $3 million in new property taxes and an estimated $3.2 million in casino revenues to Lewiston and other local governments, according to backers.
“Basically, we think we can succeed at bringing people into the downtown,” said Peter Robinson, another partner in the Lewiston group. “If we are able to bring hundreds of new people into the downtown, I think that will be enough to fundamentally change the way people think of the downtown. We don’t need to bring in thousands.”
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- Stavros Mendros
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