By GLENN ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Maine gambling regulators voted unanimously Thursday to approve a series of final licenses that opens the door for Penn National Gaming Inc. to operate slot machines in Bangor.
“It’s an exciting and historic day,” Penn National spokesman Eric Schippers said after the Gambling Control Board’s 5-0 vote to approve a license for Bangor Historic Track to be a slot machine operator. Penn National, based in Pennsylvania, owns the Bangor harness racing track.
By the same tally, the board also approved an application for International Gaming Technologies, based in Nevada, to be a slot machine distributor for the Bangor operation, as well as licenses for several individuals who will manage the facility.
The licenses are issued for a year’s duration and can be renewed after that.
Schippers said Penn National was grateful to the gambling board, which “has moved heaven and Earth to get us to this point so quickly.” He said the company was working hard to have an interim facility open on schedule in November. A job fair to hire employees for the site, to be called Hollywood Slots at Bangor, will be held Sept. 7-9.
Hollywood Slots, which is being built in a former Bangor restaurant, is to have 475 slot machines. Penn National plans to replace the temporary site with a permanent one with up to 1,500 machines near Bangor Raceway.
The gambling board had granted a conditional slots license last November. Background investigations had to be completed before the state could issue a permanent license. Before voting Thursday, the gambling board accepted reports verifying the suitability of the slot license applicants.
Looming over the Bangor plans is a citizen initiative campaign aimed at making slots illegal. The petitions seek to force a referendum next year on whether a 2003 statewide vote that authorized slots at harness racing tracks should be overturned.
As it now stands, Bangor is the only place where such a gambling facility could be.
But Maine’s Passamaquoddy Indians are circulating petitions seeking to authorize the tribe to place as many as 1,500 slot machines at a harness racing track that would be built on or near tribal reservations in eastern Maine. Legislative efforts to allow the Down East racino have not been successful.
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On the Net:
Gambling Control Board: http://www.state.me.us/dps/GambBoard/index.html
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