The general manager of Hollywood Slots in Bangor yesterday urged lawmakers to allow the facility to operate table games to bring in additional revenue.

John Osborne went before the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee to push for a proposal that would bring poker, roulette and craps tables to Hollywood Slots, according to Capitol News Service. The tables would add 130 new jobs and produce about $8 million a year, $1.4 million of which would go to the state, along with a licensing fee of $5 million. The committee first floated the idea last month, and is preparing to send its ideas for gambling expansion to the appropriations committee.

In related news, Scarborough Downs is protesting a proposal to put a $4.5 million cap on the amount of annual revenues from Hollywood Slots that would go to the harness racing facility and others in the harness racing industry, according to Current Publishing. Rep. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, proposed the cap, which would extend for three years, to siphon another $1.8 million from Hollywood Slots to the state general fund, but Scarborough Downs said the measure would hurt the struggling harness racing industry. The Legislature approved a similar measure last year, capping the amount of slot revenues going to the Fund for a Healthy Maine at $4.5 million.

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