AUGUSTA — There’s still no clear answer on whether the 100-mile minimum distance between casinos and slot facilities in Maine could block Black Bear’s casino operator license application.

The Maine Gambling Control Board met Friday to discuss whether they would interpret a 100-mile minimum distance for casino construction in road miles or as a straight line from Hollywood Slots, the Bangor slot machine facility.

Members of the board were mixed on the question and the session adjourned with no clear answer. The board did find consensus in the idea that if a straight line measurement made an Oxford County project impossible under the citizens’ initiative, then road miles would be the measurement used.

Board member Matthew Dyer said it seemed pointless to discuss the matter before Black Bear had even submitted an application for a casino.

For Black Bear Entertainment, however, the application fee for a casino operator license is $225,000. Black Bear spokesman Peter Martin said that when fees and other expenses were counted in, applying would cost his company about $500,000.

After the meeting, Martin said he was confident the mileage issue wouldn’t cause board members to reject Black Bear’s application. “We just wanted some guidance on their sentiment” on the mileage issue, he said.

Black Bear Entertainment attorney Dan Walker of Preti Flaherty has stated that under the citizens’ initiative wording, there is no location in Oxford that is both 100 miles or more in a straight line from Hollywood Slots and that meets all of the referendum’s other requirements.

According to the referendum, the Oxford casino must be 30 miles from a Level I or Level II trauma center, 15 miles from the main office of a county sheriff, 25 miles from the main office of a State Police field troop, 30 miles from an interchange of the interstate highway system,10 miles from a fire station, 10 miles from a facility at which harness racing was conducted in 2009 and ½ mile from a state highway.

The referendum made clear that these distances were to be measured in road distance along the most commonly used roadway, as determined by the Maine Department of Transportation. There was no clarification in the referendum concerning roads when describing the distance between casinos.

Black Bear Entertainment was well-represented at Monday’s meeting. Martin, Robert Bahre, Stephen Barber, Rob Lally, Suzanne Grover, and Community Development Director Scott Smith were there. Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings attended as well.

Scarborough Downs owner Sharon Terry attended the meeting, as well as Scarborough Downs attorney Ed MacColl.

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