Voters in Maine and Colorado handed a pair of stinging defeats to pro-gambling interests Nov. 4, soundly rejecting a casino referendum and a plan to place video lottery terminals at five racetracks.
A proposal to allow two Indian tribes to operate a $650-million casino in southern Maine failed by a margin of nearly 2-1, the Portland Press Herald reported. With 85 percent of the vote counted, the totals were 283,387 to 143,222.
In Colorado, voters rejected a plan to install 2,500 video lottery terminals — computerized slot machines — at five dog and horse tracks.
That vote was 86,341 against and 22,694 in favor, or 79-21 percent, according to the secretary of state’s office.
The election of Kentucky’s first Republican governor in 32 years is being interpreted by anti-gambling groups as a defeat for the gambling lobby. Ernie Fletcher won the race by 55-45 percent, the secretary of state’s office reported. Losing candidate Ben Chandler had openly supported gambling expansion.
Fletcher’s win “takes the wind out of the gambling lobby’s sails,” said Howard Beauman, director of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems. “The way the election went, with Chandler being so openly for [gambling], didn’t seem to carry any weight with the voters.”
However, two gambling referendums also passed Nov. 4:
Maine voters approved placing slot machines at horse racing tracks, with part of the proceeds to be used to lower prescription drug costs for the elderly and state scholarships. The totals were 226,665 in favor and 197,484 against.
Residents of Orange County, Ind., heartily approved establishing a casino between the towns of French Lick and West Baden. The secretary of state’s office reported yes votes of 5,127 to 2,642 against, a margin of 66-34 percent.
Barrett Duke, vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, headquartered in Nashville, called the overall results encouraging but a sign the nation is “certainly not out of the woods with this problem.” (BP)
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