AUGUSTA — Changes are in the works at Maine’s Gambling Control Board, the agency that oversees casino gambling in the state.

Robert Welch, the first and only executive director of the board, announced Wednesday he is leaving next month after six years to take a job with the University of Maine’s police department. Welch was hired as executive director in 2004 after the board was created when voters approved a referendum that allowed for slot machines in Bangor.

The board’s chairman, George McHale, is also leaving. He’s been on the five-member board since its inception.

The changes come a few weeks after voters approved a plan to build a casino with both slot machines and table games in the western Maine town of Oxford.


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