AUGUSTA – A Dixfield resident and member of the Maine Gambling Control Board has resigned and is speaking out against proposals to expand the number of slot machines in Maine.

In his resignation letter to Gov. John Baldacci, Mike Peters said the state must do all it can to stop the spread of gambling.

Maine is not benefiting as promised from the state’s only slot machine facility, Hollywood Slots of Bangor, and further expansion of gambling could create “grave harm” to the people of Maine, Peters wrote in his letter, dated April 3.

“If we do not act to reduce the shameful profits being made by gambling operators and the coalition of beneficiaries that support them, our state and our people will soon be overrun with the few getting rich at the expense of the many,” Peters wrote.

Lawmakers this month gave approval to a proposal to allow the Passamaquoddy Tribe to build and operate a harness racing track and resort with slot machines in Washington County. If Baldacci vetoes the bill as expected, Mainers would vote on the measure in a statewide referendum in November.

The Penobscot Indian Nation is also seeking to have lawmakers allow it to operate 400 slot machines during high-stakes bingo games on the Penobscot reservation.

Meanwhile, a Rumford-based group launched a campaign last year to collect signatures to force a statewide referendum to allow a casino in Oxford County in Western Maine.

That group’s organizer, Seth Carey, of Rumford, said Wednesday that Peters was a high school teacher of his and a man he respects

“I know him. I like him very much. He’s a man who cares about this state. I know he took his job seriously and was objective,” Carey said of Peters. “He’s a man of conviction and he’s going to do what he believes is right. I know he is calling for a moratorium on any expanded gaming in Maine, and I respectfully disagree.”

Carey said his proposal to bring a casino to Oxford County is about improving the economy and creating jobs. “We need economic development yesterday,” Carey said. He also said his group has collected at least half of the 65,000 signatures it has set as a goal in order to bring the issue to Maine voters in a referendum vote. To put a question on the ballot the groups needs 55,087 signatures but his group is shooting for a higher number to ensure success as some signatures may be duplicates or cast out by officials, Carey said.

Peters, who was appointed to the five-member gambling board in August 2004, wrote that he expects other board members to resign.

“There are some other folk of good moral fabric on the board and they suffer from the same affliction that bothers me – a desire to do what is right for all the people of Maine,” Peters wrote.

Rep. Donald Soctomah, the Passamaquoddy tribal representative, said a racino resort – with a hotel, conference center and restaurants – would go a long way toward helping Washington County, where unemployment rates are high and incomes are low.

The state is being unfair, he said, in expanding its state-run lottery games and allowing slot machines in Bangor without allowing the Passamaquoddys a similar opportunity.

“It’s pretty sad for (Peters) to make this dance now just when the tribe’s doing this initiative and to try to base his resignation on that,” he said.

Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, has sponsored a bill in the Legislature that would allow Carey’s proposal to move forward if passed and signed by the governor.

When asked about Peters’ resignation Wednesday, Patrick shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn’t really comment because he didn’t have much information on it.