This may sound strange, but in defeating Question 2, voters signaled support for casino gambling in Maine.

Just not this casino. Olympia Gaming spent vainly to sell this plan in the tightest time frame, but couldn’t overcome its inherent flaw: Enacting legislation with provisions bordering on the surreal.

So it was defeated. But not by numbers – or in places – that might have been anticipated.

Cumberland and York counties defeated the casino by tighter margins than expected. Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties supported it broadly. Kennebec was divided by five points. Somerset was even closer.

Problem areas were far from the casino. Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Hancock counties were against it. So were coastal Knox, Lincoln, Waldo and Sagadahoc counties. So was Penobscot, where gaming already exists.

This is an odd coalition: the wealthier, liberal coast with the poorer, more conservative north and Down East.

(Washington County is its own enigma, too. Defeat of the casino in Maine’s poorest county can likely be attributed as retribution for failed tribal racetrack/casino in Calais.)

On the other side were population centers – save Penobscot County, which arguably could have voted against competition from a casino – either giving rousing support or the barest of defeats.

The breakdown looks like this: A casino defeated by sour grapes, competitive pressure and voters living farthest from any impacts from a casino on Route 26 in Oxford. A stirring rebuke of gaming this isn’t.

What this does hint is a shifting attitude toward gambling in Maine.

Which should inspire lawmakers to – finally! – address this issue, and spare us from another contentious referenda and rehashed CasinosNo! campaign. (Even Dennis Bailey must be sick of it by now.)

We’ve urged Olympia Gaming to introduce its own legislation, in lieu of the flawed version it tried to pass.

We also urge lawmakers and Gov. John Baldacci to draft their own.

Instead of more attempts by outside interests to define the gambling business in Maine, the state should outline the conditions – and remuneration – it would take to have a casino here. Bolstering the regulatory atmosphere around casino gambling should be a parallel effort.

Voter numbers support this approach. If well-designed and soundly legislated, casino gambling is gaining appeal, if only as an economic injection, not as development policy.

By defeating the Oxford casino – and rightly so – voters gave lawmakers another chance to outline Maine’s gambling future. From our read of the results, the principled opposition to gaming is thinning.

So addressing it now through the Legislature wouldn’t be a gamble.

In fact, it looks like a pretty safe bet.