LEWISTON — Backers of  Bates Mill No. 5 casino hit back at critics Monday, saying reports about a possible ownership deal are inaccurate and irrelevant.

“It’s typical last-minute tactics, and I won’t respond,” said Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert, spokesman for the Lewiston casino campaign.

Casinos NO! spokesman Dennis Bailey, speaking on behalf of his group, Friends of Oxford Casino and several anti-casino groups, issued a challenge Monday morning demanding that backers of Lewiston’s casino plan talk publicly about potential owners.

A Maine Public Broadcasting Network story last week reported on an option agreement between Great Fall Recreation and Redevelopment — backers of the Lewiston casino — and M Five Inc., a Maryland-based group. The option was signed by members of the Great Falls group, but not by any potential buyers.

Dwayne Graham, listed as an executive officer of M Five, is also chief executive officer of GTSource Corp., a Kennesaw, Ga., company that manufactures slot machines. That company has paid to help fund the Lewiston campaign.

Stavros Mendros, manager of Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment, said that his group has agreed to purchase slot machines from GTSource if the Lewiston casino wins voter approval statewide. But Mendros said the Lewiston group has no other agreement with GTSource, M Five or Graham. Instead, he said they’ve been negotiating with several possible managers.

“We’ve planned all along to bring in other partners,” Mendros said. “None of us has any experience running a casino, and we’ve never said or implied anything else. We’ll need help, because that was the plan all along.”

Lewiston’s City Council must approve a developer and casino management, according to an option sale agreement.

“So saying we have any deal is inaccurate,” Mendros said. “It has to come to the City Council before anything can move forward.”

Mendros said GTSource has paid about $350,000 to help fund the campaign. The 10 members of the Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment have paid about $500,000 among them.

“So it’s pretty obvious that we haven’t sold out, because we’d be running a much bigger campaign if we had,” said partner Dr. Ron Chicoine, a local anesthesiologist. “Instead, we’re running a campaign on a shoestring. That’s because most of the money is coming from us.”

Mendros and Gilbert also accused Bailey’s CasinosNO! group of being bought out by the Oxford Casino group.

“He went from fighting against casinos to fighting for a casino monopoly,” Mendros said. “Right now, he’s trying to protect a bunch of rich people from having to compete against the rest of the state. That’s the only reason this is all happening now.”

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