Massuchusetts track owners hoping slots can revive business

Sunday, April 23, 2000 | 1:52 a.m.

Track owners hope the slots will stop bettors from migrating to nearby states where they can play the slots and wager on races in the same place.

They also believe the slots can attract a younger crowd, and renew interest in racing.

Attendance at local race tracks has been dwindling for a decade. Since 1990, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park has seen its numbers fall from around 1.7 million to just over 500,000 last year.

Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere had about 1.25 million visitors in 1990, compared with about 300,000 in 1999. Suffolk Downs horse racing track on the Revere-East Boston line drew more than 1.5 million fans in 1982. Last year, just over 1 million people came.

Some track owners say the lure of Connecticut's Las Vegas-style casinos, such as Foxwoods, has cut into their crowds.

Others say the racing fans aren't just declining in number, they're also aging. They say younger people are more interested in getting quick thrills from Lottery games like Keno or slot machines than the more complicated betting on horses and dogs, The Boston Globe reported.

Still, interest in racing was revived in states such as Rhode Island after track owners were permitted to install slot machines.

So far, lawmakers have been content to watch racing revenues sent to the state's coffers shrink from $40 million to about $11 million in the last decade. That decline has been easily offset by the tripling of Lottery revenues during that time to $809 million.

"It's been difficult in recent years just to get a turn at bat and get the Legislature to focus on our problem," said Robert O'Malley, chief operating officer at Suffolk Downs.

Legislators have also been wary of approving slot machines because several Indian groups, including the Wampanoag Indians, are proposing or expected to propose new gambling centers.

Some state officials believe if the Legislature approves slot machines for the tracks, the state will lose its ability to negotiate with the Wampanoags. The Wampanoags dispute the state attorney general's opinion that Indian tribes need legislative approval to operate slot machines.

Charles Sarkis, owner of Wonderland Park, said he may not stay in the greyhound racing business if the Legislature doesn't allow tracks to compete with slot machine operators in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

"We're not asking the state to create new gamblers," Sarkis said. "We just want them to make an effort to keep all these people from spending their money outside Massachusetts."