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Senate Committee approves Orleans track vote

Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Slot machines at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, the struggling race track's hoped-for salvation, were given a nod of approval by a state Senate committee Tuesday, a day after the nation's second oldest track ended a disappointing season.

Fair Grounds managers have complained for some time that they are unable to compete with other gambling venues, and even other race tracks that have added slot machines.

Tuesday, state senators gave preliminary approval to a bill that would let Orleans Parish voters decide whether to let the track install the gambling machines, which tracks say allows them to increase purses. No date was fixed for the Orleans vote.

Tuesday's committee tally was 4-2, with Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, objecting. "We are increasing the purses of tracks by decreasing the purses of poor people in New Orleans, and I think this is the wrong direction to head in," Dardenne said.

Slot machines have been barred from the Orleans track because Harrah's was granted a monopoly on gambling in the city. The two have since cut a deal that would allow the track to add up to 700 slots.

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