Former Gov. Kenneth Curtis says most gamblers are older and middle class.

Retirement checks come once a month. Where would all those millions be coming from then? Every single dollar comes out of somebody’s pocket. Dollars that won’t be spent at the local hotels, restaurants, retail shops and car dealers. Those businesses pay taxes. While the Indians don’t have to pay corporate taxes.

Who knows how much of those huge profits will actually benefit Maine or, for that matter, the tribes themselves? Don’t you wonder who is funding this extravaganza? They have so much to gain, they’ll do anything to open the way.

What are we telling our next generation if we allow further gambling in Maine? We are telling them that it’s OK to gamble away your money. That it’s OK because everybody is doing it so we might as well get in the game. Is that what we want for our children and grandchildren?

Besides, whatever happened to the $81.5 million that these same tribes received from the Indian Lands Claim settlement? Didn’t that improve their culture and lifestyle? If not, somebody else got very rich. Somebody else has very deep pockets.

Sure, a casino will create jobs, but not the kind with a work ethic, values and a future, not the kind we need for Maine.

Remember that we will have to pick up the tab for the economic and social cost that will evolve. So, whether we gamble or not, we will pay.

Hilda Gardner, Auburn

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