Who We Are

CasinosNO! began around a kitchen table in the town of York where a small group of concerned citizens gathered in 2002 to discuss a proposal for a Las Vegas style casino in Southern Maine.

At the time, the casino was just a dream of Maine Indian Tribes and developer, Marnell Carraro who designed and developed major casinos on the Las Vegas strip. They were working the bill in the Maine Legislature, but finding little support - and faced with opposition from several southern Maine communities which passed local ordinances barring casinos - the plan quickly moved to a citizens referendum on the November 2003 ballot.

Carraro spent millions on TV ads, promising thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue for the state. What they didn't count on was the power of grassroots citizen opposition.

CasinosNO! quickly outgrew the kitchen table, and now included individuals from across the state along with prominent businesses, public officials and organizations. Outspent three-to-one against the casino promoters, we prevailed on election day by a near 70-30 margin after trailing in the polls by nearly 20 points. Even the city of Sanford, which was to have hosted the casino as a solution for its economic problems, soundly voted against it. The political website politickerme.com called our effort Maine's best campaign of the 21st Century.

Subsequently, CasinosNO! went on to help defeat two local referendums for racinos in Saco and Westbrook, and last fall waged a successful upset in the campaign for a racetrack casino in Washington County. Our membership has grown to about 3,000 Maine residents and we are frequently sought for advice from anti-casino groups in other states.

Our mission is to stop the spread of casino gambling in Maine. So far we've been successful, and with your help we will continue to be. We would like nothing more than to go out of business, but casino proposals keep coming back - there's another one on the ballot this fall. For some reason, legislators and the casino developers haven't gotten the message that Maine people don't want casinos in their state. So, with your help, we have to keep reminding them.

CasinosNO! Executive Committee:

James Bartlett
Leon Gorman
Lisa Gorman
Philip Harriman, chair
Mary Herman
George Isaacson
David Nickerson
Ethan Strimling

Dennis Bailey, executive director

CasinosNO! is always looking for new members to join our executive committee or become a member of our organization. In interested, please contact us at info@casinosno.org