Maine’s casino inspectors sign letter of no confidence in Maine Gambling Control Unit Executive Director Milton Champion

Citing a dysfunctional and toxic work environment, recent scheduling changes that prevent them from inspecting Maine’s two casinos on Sundays and Mondays, and their legal obligation to enforce Maine’s gambling rules and laws, all nine of the casino inspectors employed in Maine State Government have signed a letter of no confidence in Maine Gambling Control Unit Executive Director Milton Champion. The unit is a bureau within the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The casino inspectors have a combined 97 years of state government service. The five assigned to Oxford Casino have 51 years of service; the four who work at Hollywood Casino Bangor have worked there for 46 years.

“As Public Safety Inspectors, we are deeply committed to the mission of responsible regulation of casino gambling within the state of Maine. We have accomplished this mission for nearly 20 years and in that time our roles have grown exponentially along with the growth of our two casinos,” the casino inspectors wrote in their letter of no confidence in Champion. “Despite the significant expansion of gambling within our great state, our current Executive Director Milton Champion has actively demonstrated an eagerness to deregulate casinos in Maine without input from the voting public and with little-to-no guidance to our casino partners on how to conduct business while remaining compliant with gambling rules and statutes.”

According to their letter of no confidence, “Milton Champion has made it clear through his actions that he does not respect the oversight role of the Maine Gambling Control Board. Since he started as Executive Director in 2016, the Board has denied many of his proposals for a variety of reasons. Now, rather than subject himself to the checks and balances of the Board’s oversight function, Milton Champion is circumventing the Board altogether by making unilateral decisions that completely undermine the Board’s ability to oversee gambling matters in Maine. Many of these decisions make very little sense, are based on false data, and have irreparably harmed the Maine Gambling Control Unit’s ability to regulate casino gambling (which we are required to do by state statute).”

Specifically, the casino inspectors cited Champion’s lack of respect for their contractual rights, retaliation against individual inspectors and the inspectors as a group, a dysfunctional and toxic work environment, his refusal to pay them correctly for services rendered, multiple violations of their contractual rights, and his recently enacted scheduling changes that have left both the Oxford Casino and Hollywood Casino Bangor without any inspectors on Sundays and Mondays.

“Despite MSEA’s attempts to continue bargaining with the Department over Champion’s recently enacted changes impacting our schedules and pay, he and his team have refused to meet to continue negotiations,” the casino inspectors wrote. “This inaction has eroded trust between employees and the Department and has emboldened Milton Champion to continue the toxic work environment he has created.”

State Senator Joe Baldacci, who serves on the Maine Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee and whose legislative district includes Hollywood Casino Bangor, said he agrees with the no-confidence letter signed by the casino workers.

“I support the difficult decision of a ‘no-confidence vote’ made by our Public Safety Casino Inspectors following the impossible situations they have been put in over the past few months by their Director, Milton Champion,” Senator Baldacci said. “I am calling for accountability and for a return to full-coverage staffing within our casinos so that our Public Safety Inspectors can better serve our casinos and patrons.”

Mark Brunton, president of the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989), which represents the casino inspectors, said it’s a real problem that Champion isn’t listening to the inspectors.

“Our casino inspectors play a critical role in maintaining safe and legal gambling in the State of Maine,” Brunton said. “Mr. Champion is not listening or hearing their concerns about the schedule changes that have left Maine’s casinos without any oversight on Sundays and Mondays. Casino gambling in Maine was a highly contentious issue in Maine in 2003 when it was passed by voters and legalized. One of the concerns was to make sure it was well-regulated to protect the citizens of Maine. That’s the important role that our inspectors play. They need to be on the job whenever the casinos are open.”

MSEA-SEIU Member and Casino Inspector Gayle Craig, who has worked at Hollywood Casino Bangor for seven years, said it’s important for inspectors to be at the casinos every day. “On Sundays or Mondays (when there currently aren’t any inspectors at the casinos), if a slot machine malfunctions, the casino is still allowed to repair and reprogram that game to make it operational, Craig said. “If the settings on the slot machines are programmed incorrectly, it would cause the players to be paid back incorrectly until it is discovered by an inspector upon return on Tuesday.”

MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 Member and Casino Inspector Nathan Daigle, who has worked at Oxford Casino for 12 years, said it’s essential for the casino inspectors to be onsite. “The real issue here is that our jobs as Public Safety Inspectors regulating Maine casinos are deeply intertwined with state statute, gambling rules and the internal controls both casinos must abide by,” Daigle said. “Our presence is required for much of the casinos’ day-to-day operations and both casinos still have significant concerns regarding how they remain in compliance with state regulations without Inspectors present.”

MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 Member and Casino Inspector Kyle Ellingwood, who has worked at Oxford Casino for three years, said, “It is in my belief that Milton Champion has little to no idea what the people under him do, and how the casinos we oversee operate. He has shown this multiple time by making changes to our schedule, rules and how we oversee the casinos. This has led the casinos scrambling to adjust to try and meet the new requirements after they have been changed. Questions about the changes that he has made, seemingly on a whim, have been met with either no answer or non-answers. The changes to our schedule show even more of his inability to effectively use and manage a team’s time. The prime example of this is, I am the third person for five out of the eight hours I work. The office only has two workstations. When we requested a third, it was refused. We did have 24/7 coverage; however, now there are large time frames where the casinos have to regulate themselves.”

MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 Member and Casino Inspector Nathaniel Bacon, who has worked at Oxford Casino for 12 years, added, “Director Champion’s changes are also discrediting the people of Maine.  Instead of the State using its work force efficiently, Director Champion has three of us working at the same time for five hours each night. There is not even sufficient office space or a workstation for the third person to do paperwork. A much better use of a workforce would be to have us spread out on different shifts so we can be at the casino during all hours of operation, not just those hours the Director feels are important.”

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The Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union, represents over 13,000 Maine workers, including workers for the Maine Gambling Control Unit within the Maine Department of Public Safety.