In three weeks, voters will decide at the polls whether to approve a $184 million casino for Oxford County, lower the state gambling age and skip the usual appointment process to seat Dean Harrold, a Las Vegas executive, on nearly two dozen government boards.

Those last two points - what casino proponent Olympia Gaming says it will seek to change if the referendum passes - are some of the twists in the 2-year-old campaign. Some others: The campaign's founder is facing possible disbarment. Its spokeswoman, a former Green Party vice presidential candidate, quit and came back. And eight silent partners remain so.

Is a former Lewiston city councilor a part owner? Because of a confidentiality agreement, he can't say.

Another twist?

Two months ago, Harrold's reaction to opening a casino in Maine: "It's a long ways from here and we're going to be held hostage because we're going to have to have Mainers and New Englanders run it, and we're going to have to go along with it because we're not there. We're not part of the culture."

Now, Harrold says he loves the state. He'd even hire a general manager for the casino with Maine roots. If he can find one.

Here's a look at the referendum and some questions whose answers remain elusive.

What would "Oxford Highlands" look like?

Billed as New-England-village quaint, its first $112 million phase - in a still-to-be-announced location in the town of Oxford - would have, according to Olympia:

• 1,200 slot machines, 12 gaming tables and 5 poker tables;

• A 125-room hotel;

• A 5,000-square-foot spa;

• A 250-seat buffet with other eateries;

• And 20,000 square feet of meeting space.

In the $71.9 million phase two:

• 300 more slots, 18 more tables;

• More buffet, more spa, more meeting space;

• 175 hotel rooms;

• And a 400-seat lounge for live acts.

Harrold said business would dictate the timing of phase two. Projections are based on a 2014 finish date. Gaming would account for 85 percent of the total revenue, estimated at $164 million in 2014. Of that, $69 million would go to the state as taxes.

"This is a real opportunity, and I swear to God, if someone didn't come to Maine and beat us over the head with the opportunity, we probably wouldn't take it," said Vote Yes spokeswoman Pat LaMarche.

Dennis Bailey of CasinosNO! has the next of several debates with LaMarche Tuesday on Maine Public Radio. The referendum has too many problems, he said, and the project isn't compatible with Maine.

"Here is a guy from Las Vegas coming in here, talking about jobs, about helping Maine. Let's cut to the chase: He's here to pick our pocket, he's here to flim-flam us into taking our money," Bailey said. "And they'll make a lot of it, no question about it."

Who would visit?

Fifty-four percent would be from away, according to proponents. In contrast, Hollywood Slots in Bangor attracts 94 percent Mainers.

LaMarche said proximity to Portland would make the difference: "Plus we think we're going to have a lot better things to offer. ... We're going to have a four-season resort."

Clyde Barrow, director at the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, hired by Olympia for an economic analysis, said the new resort would have a 2.5 hour-drive draw. That means New Hampshire, Vermont, northern Massachusetts and Canada.

As for the typical casino-goer, the bulk of table game players are men, under 40, making $75,000 or more a year, he said. The bulk of slot machine players are women, over 40, making $25,000 to $75,000.

Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut aren't good comparisons for this casino, Barrow said; they're much, much bigger. Think half the size of an Atlantic City casino or one like Harrah's Tunica in Mississippi.

What about jobs?

By 2014, one-third of its anticipated 907 jobs, positions in food and beverage, would pay an average $18,368 a year, according to Barrow. The facility average, from general manager to the sparkle team (the name of the cleaning crew at Olympia's Fandango casino in Carson City, Nev.), would be $35,876.

Eighty percent would be full time, with benefits. Seventy percent won't require education beyond a high school diploma. Ninety-seven percent of positions will go to Maine people, Harrold said, including, potentially, the top spot.

"We'll go around the country and see who from Maine is working in the casino industry that would like to go home," he said. And if not Maine, New England.

Annual payroll by 2014: $32.5 million. Barrow anticipated local businesses creating another 592 jobs as a spin-off from the casino, boosting the economy by another $16.6 million.

He also estimated the creation of 1,277 jobs during construction.

Maine's tribes have pushed for gaming several times before and been turned back. Where do they stand?

Penobscots aren't opposed to an Oxford casino. They also haven't campaigned for it.

Repeated calls to Passamaquoddy tribal leaders were not returned. Their most recent attempt, a proposed Washington County racino, failed in a statewide referendum last November.

Numerous referendums since 2000 have tried to bring slots and table games to Maine. Only the one for Hollywood Slots in 2003 passed (and then for slot machines only, no tables). That same year voters rejected a huge casino in Sanford.

Gov. John Baldacci, opposed to gambling expansion before, also opposes this referendum, according to a spokesman.

What's to be learned by looking at Hollywood Slots?

Shaw's supermarket had more calls to Bangor police last year than the racino. The feared surge in crime hasn't come, according to Bob Welch, executive director of Maine's Gambling Control Board.

"That's the big fear, that we were going to have a bunch of Mafia types up there. These companies are so above-board," said Welch, who has no public position on Question 2.

In 2007, visitors wagered $609 million at Hollywood Slots and won back $566 million. Another $6 million went to Maine as tax, $14 million went to groups like harness racers.

Two retired police officers spend 10 hours a day at Hollywood Slots monitoring the operation. As of August, 112 people had signed a self-exclusion list, problem gamblers who ask not to be let in the door for one year, five years or a lifetime. Despite stories of those people nonetheless trying to give security the slip, no one has ever taken the board up on its offer of free gambling addiction counseling.

Hollywood Slots General Manager Jon Johnson said his operation, including the racetrack, employs 500 people. A new $138 million permanent facility, spread over eight acres, with a 152-room hotel, opened this summer.

It has 1,000 slot machines and permission to add 500 more but no immediate plans to, Johnson said. "We could definitely squeeze in table games if they were authorized in Maine."

Hollywood Slots is taking no position on a potential Oxford casino.

What are the biggest issues with the referendum question as written?

Opponents cite several. Olympia even agrees with them on some points. Under the bill:

• The gambling age would be dropped from 21 to 19.

• The 39 percent gaming tax would be split between 22 different entities or causes, like Land for Maine's Future, the host town, research on an east-west highway and somewhat vague purposes like lowering balances on student loans.

• The casino's owner would be given a seat on all the boards that receive casino funds.

• An exclusivity clause would make an Oxford County casino the only gaming facility in the state for the next 10 years.

• Depending upon interpretation, the casino might allow extending credit to gamblers. (Welch at the Gambling Control Board says that's how he reads it; LaMarche says not true, and they wouldn't extend credit anyway.)

Harrold said he can't sit on all those boards and doesn't want it. He also agrees with keeping the gambling age at 21.

How does the Legislature go about changing a law once it's passed?

Expect a flurry of bills. However, nothing binds Olympia Group to ask for changes, and nothing binds the Legislature to make them.

Leaders on both sides agree there's probably political will to amend the gambling age and strip Harrold's seats. Still, come Election Day, people ought to vote on what's in front of them, said Hannah Pingree, Democratic majority leader in the Maine House, who said she voted against it last spring and that it's now up to the people.

"I don't think anything is guaranteed in the legislative process whatsoever," she said.

There is some precedent.

"When the racino passed in 2003, it was in horrible conflict with all of our gambling statutes," said Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, a former legislator. "That was nothing that was ever spoken of during the campaign."

Negotiations with Hollywood Slots' owners, Penn National Gaming, took several months. In that time, lobbyists for off-track betting argued for a share of the slot money, according to Bailey.

"That was not in the original bill. Off-track betting parlors now get 2 percent of the revenue, more than the University of Maine gets," he said. "That's what you're going to get. If this thing lands back in the Legislature, the tribes will be in there saying ... 'If you're going to give it to them, you better give it to us.' It's 'Katie bar the door.'"

In the process, Bailey said, legislators could "fix" anything, even the location.

"It's Oxford County or bust as it's written. Now, again, (the) Legal and Veterans Affairs (committee in the Legislature) has power over everything," LaMarche said.

It's possible, but not probable, she added, that the location would change.



Last month, Olympia Group bought 75 percent of Evergreen Mountain Enterprises, Seth Carey's company that got the referendum question on the ballot. Who owns the other 25 percent?

Olympia has nine minority partners, all from Maine, according to Harrold. Only one has been made public, Rumford's Carey. Unrelated to the campaign, he was in front of the Maine Board of Overseers of the Law this week facing four complaints and the potential loss of his law license.

"They're people that worked on the project with Seth," LaMarche said. "Mr. Carey made a deal with some people that if they helped him they'd have some ownership."

Signature gatherers had an agreement for a share of the future casino based on their work, according to one Portland man.

"It was really a small amount, one-quarter of 1 percent if you got 5,000 signatures," said Ben Chipman, who wasn't sure how many he collected.

Political Action Committee filings with the state indicate he was paid almost $7,000 for signature work. Chipman, who doesn't gamble but supports the casino, said no one from Olympia has been in touch.

When asked directly if he was a minority owner, former Lewiston City Councilor Stavros Mendros cited a confidentially clause. He heads a signature-gathering company.

"All I can tell you is that I did run the campaign to get it on the ballot. I signed a non-disclosure form with Seth that carried over to Olympia Gaming as part of my work," he said.

LaMarche, who refused to name partners because she said their identities were shielded as private citizens, acknowledged the non-disclosure form this week.

"These were not people who were tied up and held in the basement. These were people who signed the agreement willingly," she said.

Any prognosticating?

Sides for and against agree that a heavy youth turnout could get the question passed in a state that's repeatedly said no to gambling expansion.

If Question 2 gets approval statewide and in the town of Oxford, the casino would be a go with gaming at a temporary site until the resort is built, LaMarche said. If it passes statewide but not in Oxford, supporters will have until Jan. 1 to woo that town or another in Oxford County.