AUGUSTA — On the fifth day of the Oxford casino recount, the casino gained 23 more votes. Oxford Hills No on 1, which campaigned against the Nov. 2 casino referendum, said that unless opponents post large gains, the recount will end Monday.

Zizi Vlaun of the Oxford Hills group said she had received e-mails criticizing her group for pressing the recount, but she has also received praise from people urging her to continue.

Mark Robinson, spokesman for Black Bear Entertainment, said opponents were “beating a dead horse.”

“I think everybody feels that they’re on a fool’s errand at this point — a very expensive one,” Robinson said. He said Black Bear was spending between $2,300 and $3,000 on lawyer’s fees and was giving each volunteer $100 a day for gas and food.

Vlaun said casino opponents didn’t pay their volunteers. She said most of the 46 who volunteered had spent at least one day counting ballots. Vlaun said Monday would be her fourth day counting ballots.

Before Friday, the recount had turned up 53 more “yes” votes, bringing Black Bear’s gain to 75. The unofficial tally before the recount had the casino question winning by 4,600 votes, less than 1 percent of the total.

On Friday, volunteers counted ballots from Auburn, Saco, Biddeford, Gray and North Yarmouth. They will count votes from Oxford County on Monday,

“It was supposed to go on 14 to 20 days,” Vlaun said. She said six days is comparatively few, and that most of the ballots counted were already in Augusta for recounts in local elections, so the cost to the state wasn’t much.

Ballots not already in Augusta must be retrieved from cities and towns by uniformed Maine State Police troopers.

Each side must provide 10 volunteers for each day of counting. The volunteers count ballots in pairs while a state employee watches each pair.

People who campaigned during the election can participate, as long as they don’t have a financial stake in the outcome. Black Bear investors are barred from counting.

The figures on costs to the state will be available after the recount is finished.

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