PORTLAND — The Maine Senate has passed a bill stipulating that road miles – not air miles – be the standard measurement for an existing law requiring casinos to be at least 100 miles apart.

Scarborough Downs horse track this winter said a casino site in Oxford chosen by Black Bear Entertainment was only 94 miles as the crow flies from the Hollywood Slots casino in Bangor. Black Bear maintained the distance should be measured in road miles because that’s how people will travel to the casino.

According to the Sun Journal of Lewiston, the Oxford casino site is 125 miles by road from Hollywood Slots. State law currently doesn’t specify how the distance should be measured.

The bill now moves on to the House for a vote.