To the editor:
This referendum asks the people of Maine to grant a license for a casino in York County. This referendum is bad for the state of Maine.
It would provide a license to one person, Shawn Scott. That license is estimated to be worth $200 million.
Scott has spent $10 million to underwrite a ballot signature campaign as well as extensive signage, TV, and print advertising in support of the referendum. Exactly where the money is coming from is difficult to determine because of Shawn’s complex web of more than 140 privately held companies and partnerships.
Shawn’s projections of what the casino would generate in jobs and monies for the state are not realistic. The actual numbers for the two casinos in Maine, Bangor and Oxford, have not come close to what the backers had projected.
Casinos have social and economic costs, ranging from gambling addiction and paycheck reduction to increased services demanded of the host community.
Shawn is a resident of Saipan, a U.S. territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 7,000 miles from Maine. He does not have our best interests at heart. He is driven purely by money.
For once, I agree with Gov. LePage. He calls Question 1 a “phony deal for Maine.” Vote no on Question 1.
Rudi Graf
Newcastle
