Election Day will mark the sixth time since 2000 that Maine voters have been asked to approve a casino or some other gambling facility.

Voters have rejected all but one of the five previous projects, approving Hollywood Slots in Bangor in 2003.

Despite the low success rate, gambling proposals are increasing. So is the pressure to bring the projects to economically depressed parts of the state.

Question 1 on the Nov. 2 ballot asks voters to approve a casino in Oxford County, the second such proposal there and the third the state has considered since 2007.

In 2011, voters will be asked to approve a casino in Lewiston.

Gov. John Baldacci has been a vocal opponent of expanding gambling in Maine, as were his most recent predecessors, former Govs. Angus King and John McKernan.

Under the state’s citizen initiative process, the Legislature can approve a casino proposal without sending it to voters. But Baldacci has vowed to veto any effort to expand gaming in Maine.

Given the pace of new casino proposals, the next governor might be faced with the same issue, and would have to consider both sides of the casino debate.

Opponents argue casinos aren’t true economic development, but rather facilities that take money from the existing economy and put it into the pockets of gaming developers.

Proponents, however, say a casino would bring money from out-of-state visitors and would create jobs.

Kevin Scott, 42, independent

Scott said he’s philosophically opposed to casinos, but he’s realistic that they’re inevitable in Maine.

He said he’d focus on creating legislation that puts conditions and GrowSmart principles on how casinos are regulated and built.

“Not a big advocate for gambling, which is why I don’t want to see it happening without controls,” he said.

He’d also make sure the state’s portion of the casino’s gambling revenue goes into education.

“The Oxford proposal has a certain percentage to Native Americans, a certain percentage to roads. … No, it all goes to education,” Scott said. “You know why? If it goes to education, it benefits all of those things.”

Shawn Moody, 51, independent

Moody said he’d prefer to grow the Maine economy “the traditional way,” by supporting state businesses and encouraging expansion and job growth.

“The money generated from a casino is (from) people losing money that they can ill afford to lose,” he said.

He called the potential gaming revenue sent to education and the General Fund, “pennies on the dollar.”

But Moody wouldn’t veto a casino proposal that came before him as governor.

“We’re already in the gambling business with the lottery and slots,” he said. “But my heartfelt answer is, ‘Let’s grow the economy the traditional way.'”

Libby Mitchell, 70, Democrat

Mitchell doesn’t believe casinos are the best economic development tool for Maine.

“As a matter of fact, the more there are, the less competitive they are,” she said.

Mitchell pointed to the recent troubles of the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. After experiencing an early boom and expansion, the facility has fallen on hard times. 

Last year the Boston Globe reported Foxwoods was struggling to survive beneath more than $2 billion in debt, falling revenues and “increased competition from newer venues.”

Mitchell said she wouldn’t be supporting the Oxford County casino.

“My concern is that it’s just taking Maine dollars and recycling them,” she said. “Although we get a share, a large portion of it goes out of state.”

Paul LePage, 61, Republican

LePage said he doesn’t gamble.

However, as governor, he wouldn’t let his personal preferences influence a decision on a gambling project.

“Personally, I don’t think the issue should be decided by a statewide referendum,” he said. “It should be decided locally. If the people want something, we should give it to them.”

John Jenkins, 58, independent

Jenkins said he is morally opposed to casinos.

“They’re like vacuums,” he said. “Their goal is to get you in that building. They’ll feed you at a very low cost and they take the clocks out because they don’t want you to know what time it is. All you see is the light on the machines. It’s mesmerizing.”

Despite his personal feelings about gambling, Jenkins said it’s time for the state to “get real” about gambling. He said the state is already in the gambling business with the Maine State Lottery.

Jenkins said he’d rather focus on how to regulate casinos than on trying to stop them.

Jenkins also questioned why Bangor’s Hollywood Slots was approved while the state’s Native American nations’ attempts to establish a casino have been thwarted for nearly two decades.

Eliot Cutler, 64, independent

Cutler calls casinos and gambling facilities “sluiceways to take money out of Maine’s economy.”

“I don’t think casinos build Maine’s economy in tourism or any respect,” he said.

On his website, Cutler takes his anti-casino stance further, saying “offering more gambling won’t build our brand and help to differentiate Maine from other places. In fact, it simply will mask and dilute the magic that draws people to Maine.”

Maine needs to invest in its competitive advantage, which he said is the state’s scenic beauty and sense of place.

As for the need for jobs in Maine’s poorer counties, Cutler said the state should, and could, find alternative means.

“We shouldn’t default to casinos,” he said.

Tomorrow: The candidates’ views on reforming Maine’s increasingly costly prison system.

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