Casino Petition Drive Starts in Maine
Casino supporters have started their signature gathering drive Friday, hoping that should they gather enough, they may have a statewide vote on the issue of a casino to be established in western Maine.
The company behind the idea is Evergreen Mountain Enterprises and its founder Seth Carey said that the group aims to collect 40,000 to 50,000 signatures to push a referendum that seeks to ask Maine voters if they would be willing to approve a casino in Oxford County.
The amount of signatures that the group needs is dependent on the voter turnout this November, said Melissa Packard, director of elections in the secretary of state's office.
Evergreen Mountain will be allotting 39 percent of its gross income from the casino gaming devices to the state, to be distributed in the education sector, road development, health care, tax relief and other programs, as stated in the group's website.
The group has also been advertising for several weeks now for signature gatherers. The group has said on a job site that it will pay on commission basis for the campaign.
A similar proposal has been previously turned down by Maine voters, that time for a casino in Sanford. However, they gave a thumbs up vote to a slot machine parlor in Bangor, a venture that started operations last fall.
