The Senate Tuesday night voted 22-13 to put a proposal for a racino in Washington County on a statewide ballot – falling just one vote shy of the needed two-thirds to override a possible veto by the governor.

The House earlier this week passed the bill with two-thirds support of those present. The question now is whether Gov. John Baldacci will veto the racino twice in one session.

The bill would allow the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe, in cooperation with the state’s other tribes, to build a racetrack and racino, with 1,500 slot machines, in Calais, if it is approved in a statewide referendum in November. The exact same bill – minus the referendum requirement – passed the House and Senate earlier in the month, but the governor vetoed it last week.

Baldacci said at the time he would support putting the plan out to voters statewide, but only if it passed the House and Senate with two-thirds support.

The governor’s spokesperson, Lynn Kippax, said Wednesday morning Baldacci would veto the bill based on Tuesday night’s vote count in the Senate. The bill still has to be finally approved in both houses.

Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Washington, as he did the first time around, appealed to his fellow senators to approve the racino as a form of economic development in Washington County – one of the state’s poorest regions. He said the racino would allow the area to attract Canadian tourists, who now drive through Calais to get to somewhere else.

“I urge you to stand with Maine’s Indian tribes and the people of Washington County” to reverse economic stagnation, he said. “Let the people of Maine be the final arbiters and end the speculation over what we think the people want.”

In a statewide referendum two years ago, voters were asked to approve slots at the state’s two existing racetracks – Bangor and Scarborough Downs – but only Bangor residents opted to support the deal. Opponents of another racino in Washington County say voters already have spoken.

Sen. William Diamond, D-Cumberland, who before being elected to the Senate served as a lobbyist for Scarborough Downs, also voted against the Washington County racino.

Diamond said he wouldn’t approve another racino until Bangor was up and running.

“If Bangor goes well – and all the kinks get worked out and it doesn’t do all the bad things people have predicted,” Diamond said he “wouldn’t have a problem” with another racino in the state, as long as local voters approved it for their community.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Somerset, as he did in the first debate, spoke against the racino.

“I’m deeply concerned about this fly-by-night notion,” he said, that a racino will bring economic development. “Those 1,500 slot machines will take all of the money that there is in Washington County. Whether they’ll take any Canadian money is entirely speculative.”

Mills also warned that while the Indians may be pushing for the racino now, it would not take long before out-of-state gambling operations tried to take control of the process. “If they should convince the public…that’s the last we’ll see of them in this project.”

Raye charged back saying, “the suggestion that Maine’s native people are nothing but dupes is insulting.” He said it was equally insulting to suggest that Washington County people “will gamble away every last cent they have.”

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