Bangor, Maine: The dismissal of adverse effects

Did gamble pay off well for Bangor?
Hollywood Slots has generated millions of dollars for the city, but its effect on crime and problem gambling is unclear.

Penn National Gaming, the company that owns Hollywood Slots, has created 350 jobs...

City officials and business leaders in Bangor have mixed minds about the casino proposal.

Question 1 itself they oppose. They say it would be unfair to allow Oxford County to have table games, such as poker and blackjack, while Hollywood Slots is limited to slot machines.

Bangor officials also worry that a casino in Oxford County could take customers away from Hollywood Slots and reduce the revenue it produces for the city.

While the racino hasn't delivered an economic boom -- the only development it has attracted is a couple of fast-food restaurants ....

... the city's historic downtown appears to be on the upswing. But that's a trend that began before the racino arrived...

Hollywood Slots' impact on crime is also difficult to determine. Between 2004 and 2009, the number of reported thefts and burglaries in Bangor increased by 29 percent, according to police statistics.


Gastia said there is no data to support the theory that the increased crime is due to Hollywood Slots, and crimes that are specifically associated with the racino are relatively insignificant.

[No data? Relatively insignificant? That means what? It might mean that proponents want to dismiss increased crime caused by a SLOT BARN.]

There is some anecdotal evidence of people stealing money because of gambling debt due to Hollywood Slots, said Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy.

[Anecdotal? Another dismissal?]

It's also difficult to document whether more people have gotten into financial problems because of gambling.


The number of people from Maine calling the National Council on Problem Gambling help line has increased steadily since the casino opened, from 337 calls in 2005 to 1,263 in 2009. Here again, the statistics are misleading. The help line has been more heavily advertised in Maine since the racino opened, said the organization's director, Keith Whyte.

[The number of calls more than triples, and again, another dismissal of facts attributed to 'advertising.']

National studies show, however, that the number and severity of gambling problems increase whenever a new form of gambling arrives in an area. Whyte said new casinos bring high-speed machines and higher betting limits.

"You end up getting to that desperation stage more quickly," he said.

Voters in 2003 approved the racino in part because a portion of the revenue was to be set aside to support the state's struggling harness racing industry. In 2009, for example, Hollywood Slots gave $11.4 million to the horse racing industry and Maine's agricultural fairs.

But the influx of money -- some of which is used to increase purses -- hasn't overcome the plummeting public interest in the sport.

[This is another failed attempt to save a dead industry.]

Between 2006 and 2009, the value of bets placed at the Bangor Raceway has declined nearly 40 percent, according to Hollywood Slots, which operates the facility.

Dennis Bailey of Casinos No!, an advocacy group that opposes Question 1, said that rather than help the racetrack become a self-sustaining business, the racino is taking away customers.

"All we've done with this racino is divert gambling dollars away from harness racing and off-track betting and into the slot machines in Bangor," he said. "The racetrack casino has not added to the economic pie. It has just sliced the pie differently."


No where are the increased costs of a 29% increase in crime mentioned. It all sounds so familiar.