The Portland (Maine) Press Herald reports that the citizens of Scarborough, Maine defeated -- by a 51 to 49 percent margin, by a scant 239 votes -- a referendum that would have permitted the track to open a slot machine parlor.

The track had promised additional retail, entertainment, civic, and local road development as part of its racino plans, but voters, as they had shortly after the original legislation passed statewide in 2003, again gave thumbs down.

The vote counting on Tuesday evening was delayed due to a technical glitch involving absentee ballots, but a hand recount of all the ballots revealed the negative result one day later.

A spokesman for track owner Sharon Terry told the newspaper that Terry would "consider any and all alternatives that will save the (harness racing) industry." That was taken to mean moving the racetrack to another community, one whose citizens would offer a positive vote, which is required by Maine law.

Courtesy of the US Trotting Association Web Newsroom