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Backers say they will decide within 60 days whether to campaign for a site in Oxford County.

By MATT WICKENHEISER, Staff Writer September 2, 2009

A group of prominent Maine businesspeople is considering a campaign to allow a casino in Oxford County.

Stephen Barber and Matt Hancock have registered the Black Bear Entertainment political action committee with the Secretary of State's Office to support a casino.

Barber, of Cape Elizabeth, is the retired president of Barber Foods in Portland. Hancock, of Casco, is a former principal of Hancock Lumber and Hancock Land, and is a co-owner of the Mount Abram ski resort in Greenwood.

Hancock said the group has not decided whether to pursue citizen-initiated legislation to legalize a casino in Oxford County. The group has spent roughly $25,000 in discussions with Portland lawyers on crafting legislation, he said, and it was obligated to form a PAC to continue its exploration.

Hancock said the group is considering the idea as a way to boost the region's economy.

Gambling initiatives in Maine have had little success in recent years, with the exception of the approval of a racino in Bangor.

Voters turned down legislation in November 2008 that would have legalized a casino in Oxford County. They also have turned down casino proposals for Down East Maine and Sanford.

Hancock said Tuesday that others in the group are Suzanne and Rupert Grover, founders of Grover Gun Drilling Inc. of Norway. Suzanne Grover is also president of the Oxford Fair, according to the fair's Web site. Another member is Rob Lally, a real estate developer and co-owner of Mount Abram.

The group will continue to explore the idea, Hancock said, and plans to decide whether to proceed in the next 30 to 60 days. If it moves forward, it will seek to put the question before the Legislature this winter.

If the Legislature turned down the proposal, the group would want it to go before voters in November 2010, Hancock said.

"What we're doing is really a passionate exercise to spur growth in western Maine," he said.

Dennis Bailey, spokesman for CasinosNO!, the main group opposing casinos in Maine, said the new group is "wasting their time on something that's not going to happen."

"I don't know when they're going to get the message," said Bailey. "It's becoming easier and easier to defeat these things. The first one was a real struggle, but Maine people have made up their minds. They don't need a lot of convincing."

If a proposal were made, CasinosNO! would fight it, Bailey said.

Last year's proposal for a casino in Oxford County was by all accounts flawed.

"There were some very good reasons why it didn't pass last time," said Hancock, including the fact that organizers had to spend too much time defending poorly written legislation.

Hancock said the business people in the Black Bear Entertainment group all supported last year's proposal in an "ancillary" way. Hancock and the Grovers were in advertisements supporting the plan.

At this point, they're just starting to look at how legislation might work, what an ownership group might look like and where a casino might go, said Hancock. They're still looking at Route 26, particularly in Oxford, but haven't ruled out other communities. There is no plan to locate it at Mount Abram, Hancock said.

The group doesn't have a gaming partner or a management company in mind, Hancock said. "It's just not that far down the line," he said.

After its defeat at the polls last year, the idea of an Oxford County casino got another try in the Legislature.

Rep. H. Sawin Millett Jr., R-Waterford, submitted legislation to allow a casino in the county. The Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee did not endorse it, the House rejected it 90-55 and the Senate rejected it 27-0.

If Black Bear Entertainment decides to pursue citizen-initiated legislation, it will have to collect 55,087 voters' signatures by Feb. 1.

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at: mwickenheiser@pressherald.com