Casino inspectors allege hostile work environment under Milt Champion. (Image: Associated Press / Alamy)

At least some of Maine’s nine casino inspectors are claiming that Gambling Control Unit Executive Director Milton Champion has created a hostile work environment and is retaliating against them for airing concerns about his leadership by changing their shifts at the state’s two commercial casinos.

The nine inspectors are tasked with working at both Hollywood Slots and Casino, as well as the smaller Oxford Casino Hotel. Traditionally, the inspectors worked eight hour shifts, five days a week, which allowed an inspector to be on site at each casino at all times.

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Shift Changes Leave Casinos Unstaffed Overnight

However, inspectors accuse Milton of changing the schedules to four-day, 10-hour shifts. According to Gayle Craig, an inspector at Hollywood Slots and Casino, that means there are now no inspectors on duty during overnight hours or on Sundays or Mondays.

“Removing us two days a week is really impacting the casinos,” Craig said, according to Fox 22 WFVX in Bangor. 

Craig added “And as far as I’m concerned, the public would be interested, because when people voted to bring casinos into Maine, they voted for strict oversight and he’s removing it.”

Craig notes that several casino functions cannot be completed in compliance with existing rules and laws if inspectors aren’t on duty. Those include maintenance and installation of slot machines, offering temporary licensing credentials for employees who don’t have that information on them, and processing self-exclusion requests from gamblers.

More generally, the inspectors have expressed concerns about the level of authority Champion appears to have over the Gambling Control Unit, and perhaps over the Maine Gambling Control Board as well.

Inspectors sent a letter to State Senator Joe Baldacci (D-Bangor) earlier this month, according to the Bangor Daily News. In that letter, they accused Champion of creating a toxic workplace and exhibiting “extremely questionable ethics.”

Sauschuck: Decisions Made by Champion Were Long-Planned, ‘Lawful’

At a Tuesday meeting of the Maine Gambling Control Board, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck defended Champion’s actions, at least when it came to the shift changes. He noted that Champion had been advocating for a move to give casinos more self-oversight of areas like suspicious transactions since taking the job, and that the shift changes hadn’t happened for several years because they weren’t a priority.

June 25, 2024 Maine Gambling Control Board meeting, where Commissioner Sauschuck defends Champion's actions regarding casino shift changes. (Image: Maine Gambling Control Board YouTube Channel)

“I’m incredibly confident and comfortable where we are, decisions that have been made are lawful, and they are definitely within the authority of the Gambling Control Unit director to make,” Sauschuck told the board. “That doesn’t mean that everyone is going to agree with that. That doesn’t mean that at the end of a grievance process, it may not change.” 

Champion took on the job as director of the Gambling Control Unit in 2016. His public profile increased in 2022, when state lawmakers approved sports betting and put it under the control of his unit. Last May, Champion was suspended for a week without pay for two tweets, one of which used a sexist slur and the other of which appeared to defend a march by a white nationalist group.

“While the two tweets were intended to be humorous, I recognize they were anything but,” Champion later said in a statement. “They were a mistake and an error in judgment, and I apologize for my actions.”

Champion previously worked as the head of the pari-mutuel wagering division in Florida. Champion resigned from that job, claiming he was asked to do so by the administration of then Governor Rick Scott for not supporting betting on rodeo-style barrel racing.