I oppose the expansion of gambling in Maine, including the construction of casinos and additional racinos, for two important reasons:
- My campaign is all about helping to create productive, sustainable economic activity, jobs and incomes that benefit the people of our state. Gambling doesn’t do that. Casinos are just a vehicle to deliver profits from gambling to out of state interests, and the people who stand to lose the most money are Maine citizens, not visitors.
- People come to Maine for our quality of life and our quality places. Offering more gambling won’t build our brand and help to differentiate Maine from other places. In fact, it simply will mask and dilute the magic that draws people to Maine.
Economic development needs to be about identifying our core competitive advantages and pursuing a focused strategy to invest in those advantages in order to create jobs, incomes and opportunities for Maine people – like the one that I have put forward here: “Rebuilding Maine: Investing in Our Competitive Advantages.” Casinos enrich a few at the expense of many. They are a sign that we are giving up on ourselves and our state, and I will not do that.