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Maine Casino Regulation Board to Lose Two Officers

Posted on November 19th, 2010

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After a referendum gave the state of Maine the go signal to construct a new casino after the fairly successful Hollywood Casino in Bangor, a new development is set to affect the state’s gambling scene. In Maine’s Gambling Control Board, changes are expected to happen, with the agency expecting a new set of officers. In the middle of the week, the first and, so far, only executive director in the history of the board, Robert Welch announced that he will be vacating his position by next month. He was the executive director of the board for six years. By next year, he will assume the position in the police department of the University of Maine. It was in 2004 when Welch was hired as executive director after the board was created. It was a necessary action after voters approved a referendum that gave the green light for a facility to house slot machines in Bangor.

But Welch will not be the only person to leave the board. Another veteran of the body which has been on the board since it was founded will also be vacating his seat. The chairman of the board, George McHale, has indicated that he will follow Welch’s footsteps in bidding the board goodbye. These pending changes happened to the board after voters approved of the recent referendum that will have the town of Oxford house a facility that will have both slot machines and table games.

Even before the planned casino in the Western Maine town will welcome its first customers, the taxpayers of the state will already need to dole out up to $1.5 million. The amount is for funding of a regulatory oversight system for the new casino, according to state officials in their meeting with the Gambling Control Board. This provision may have caused the two board officials to finalize their departures. Anne Jordan, Public Safety Commissioner, said, “”It’s a necessary expense in order for the income to come in.” The referendum for the new casino was included in the ballots of the November 2 elections, The voters of the state gave a narrow win for the casino’s approval, making it only the 2nd in 6 occasions that the voters supported the casino and the first in the state to have table games. Opponents have been successful to gather enough signatures to demand a recount. The process will begin Dec. 2 and is estimated to be completed, at the latest, on February of next year.

It was the State Legislature that established the Gambling Control Board, which was tasked to oversee the Bangor facility, the Hollywood Slots racino. The board, with its new officers, would have to start preparing to regulate the new casino, planned to be built in Oxford, on Route 26. The remaining members of the board will be busying themselves with establishing regulations for table games like poker and blackjack. They may need to review the regulations currently used by other states that have sufficient experience in regulating table games in their gambling facilities.

As with the 2004 referendum and the agreement that followed, Hollywood Slots Bangor is only permitted to have slot machines, which the Legislature may re-examine in their coming sessions. With a new casino to oversee, the outgoing Welch prepared a report stating that the board may need to hire an additional eleven employees as soon as the Oxford casino opens, targeted to happen in 2012. The new employees would include eight inspectors and a police detective. With McHale and Welch tendering their resignation, two seats in the board would need to be filled up ASAP.

In his financial report, Welch also claimed that the board will need to increase its spending, starting in fiscal year 2011 with a $300,000 increase and up to a $1.5 million increase by 2012. He also said that every year, the cost of the board and its regulation functions for both casinos once the Oxford facility opens will be at $2.7 million. The money would be sourced from the General Fund. With the state facing a deficit in its budget close to $1 billion, the casino regulating fund would still need to compete with other state-funded projects as well.