FARMINGTON – When Pat LaMarche stopped at a convenience store for a cup of coffee, she was the only person in the store who didn’t buy a lottery ticket, she said.

“We gamble in Maine … at every convenience store,” LaMarche, the spokesperson for the Evergreen Mountain Four Season Resort Casino, told members of Farmington Rotary Thursday morning.

LaMarche is trying to garner support for a statewide ballot initiative that goes to voters in November asking for the approval of a privately run casino for Oxford County.

The Rotarians had just finished their meeting with some raffles. “Playing the games was fun,” LaMarche said. “But, while some people love to ski or golf and can spend $70 to $100 a day, we don’t pass judgment on them. I’ve always believed in personal liberty. I spoke out against seat belt and helmet laws and supported the right for people to do what they want.”

LaMarche, an author, educator, journalist and broadcaster, has run previous campaigns, one for governor of Maine and another as the Green Party’s vice-presidential candidate.

Economic growth and employment were two of her reasons for supporting the citizen initiative campaign. Casino areas become “job intense” with employment not only at the casino but other jobs within the community are created that interact with casino employment, she said.

“The $220 million investment for Hollywood Slots in Bangor provided a 40 percent increase of jobs in other sectors,” she said. Growing up in Bangor, she watched the Main Street decline but now private restaurants have started to come back in the downtown area, she said by way of example.

Carrabassett Valley Police Chief Scott Nichols asked about the potential for a spike in crime in casino areas.

“Recession is the number one reason for a spike in crime not casinos,” LaMarche said. She said a review of police calls in the vicinity of Connecticut’s Foxwoods Casino showed there were no calls for the casino but many for four new methodone clinics in the area.

LaMarche was also asked about the history of American Indian tribes’ attempts to establish casinos in Maine.

LaMarche said the estimated $100 million resort would give 2 percent of its profits to the town it’s located in and 1 percent to the county, state programs and agencies would receive 39 percent of the profits.

She often talks to senior groups whose members ask, “How soon can you build it (the Oxford casino)?” LaMarche said. Seniors tend to spend $65 gambling but pay $100 for a bus to get them to Foxwoods with most of that money going out of state, she said.

“Our governor went to China to seek economic growth. We have people knocking on our door wanting to make a $100 million investment in Oxford County,” she said.