The preliminary bout is over, and we are ready for the main event.
A six-day statewide recount told us what we learned on Election Day, which is that a majority of Mainers support expanding legal casino gambling to Oxford County.
The big question left over is what this will mean for the rest of the state, and the place to answer it is in the State House, by our next governor and Legislature.
The referendum that the voters approved calls for a 100-mile exclusionary zone around the Oxford casino that would mean that the new facility would have no competition. This hardly seems fair, but gambling operations always like the odds in their favor.
Some will argue that the voters approved this question and their will should not be challenged, but that gives too much power to the casino's operators.
The question on the ballot was written by the people who stand to benefit directly from it, and it could not be altered before it went out to the voters.
But state government has to consider the interests of all Maine residents, not just a small group of investors, and it has a responsibility to make changes in the law that reflect that, while keeping true to the voters' intent.
This was the process that led to the implementation of a medical marijuana dispensary law that ended up with a distribution system significantly different from what was envisioned by the people who drew up the referendum question.
The same thing will have to happen with the casino question, especially when it come to the 100-mile exclusion zone.
It's understandable why the casino operators would want it, but that doesn't make it good policy. If there are too many casinos in Maine, they may not all be profitable. But we have a way to deal with that doesn't involve a heavy hand by government -- it's called competition.
If the most compelling argument for expanding casino gambling to Oxford is job creation, than why should it be limited to one location? They need jobs in Biddeford and Lewiston, too, where there are active efforts to bring in legal gambling, and both cities fall within the 100-mile zone.
The casino vote has done more than permit a single facility. It has raised a series of thorny policy questions about the state's approach to managing legalized gambling. Lawmakers should address them all when they show up for the main event.
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