Casino Backers in Maine Pressurise Legislatures.

Recently in Lewiston, Maine, casino backers have been urging legislators to skip a public vote next year and adopt their plan as it has been written. They say that the plans should provide economic development for the whole region not just Lewiston and that the plan "is worthy of passage by the state Legislature."

The people behind the casino group, Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment LLC, held a news conference in Lewiston City Hall where they presented the signed petitions they have collected in order to get the casino on the May 2025 ballot.
After the news conference they loaded the petitions into plastic boxes and took them to Augusta where they shall be given to the Secretary of State's Office. The manager of the casino group, Stavros Mendros said that there are a further 6,000 signatures in Portland which shall also be delivered.
They are hoping to turn the huge Bates Mill building No. 5 which is situated on Lewiston's Main Street into a casino. They will need at least 57,277 signatures from registered Maine voters in order to qualify for the ballot in May. Once the signatures are verified the state Legislature will review the matter. If the legislators don't vote in favour of the casino then it shall go to the May ballot.

Voters in Lewiston have already approved an agreement last June which gave the casino group the option to buy the Bate Mill building No. 5. Mendros said that the vote and the signatures that his group has collected are a strong sign of local support for the project. The Mayor Larry gilbert agreed saying that he will plea to the Legislature to let it pass as it is clearly what the people of Maine want.