Oxford fairgrounds shooting for slots

by Duke Harrington
     
     OXFORD - If all goes according to plan, the Oxford County Fairgrounds could become home to as many as 1,500 slot machines as part of the state's newest racino.
     On Thursday, May 1, Oxford County Commissioner Caldwell Jackson appeared before Oxford selectmen in his role as harness racing director for the fairgrounds. Jackson's question was simple enough: Would selectmen be willing to call a public hearing, allowing the fair association to gauge public reaction to the possibility of opening up the track to non race-related gambling.
     In support of the concept, Jackson distributed 2007 revenue results from Hollywood Slots, in Bangor. Of $609.7 million spent at Bangor slot machines last year, Penn National Gaming, Inc. (PNG) showed net revenues of $14.5 million. Of that, 1 percent ($371,546) went directly to Bangor.
     By statute, Bangor also earned 3 percent of PNG's $22.6 million in earnings, adding another $679,929 to city coffers.
     The proposal, said Jackson, is strictly for a racino - a horse racing track supported by revenue from nearby slot machines. This effort, he said, is independent of the drive to bring a casino to Oxford County, which will be on the ballot this November.
     Still, Jackson said, a fair estimate of what a racino might mean for Oxford can be found when one considers that the Bangor numbers were generated from just 475 slot machines. Southern Maine has been approved for 1,500 machines, but so far voters in both Scarborough and Westbrook have refused to host them. Just as the Oxford County casino idea really got a head of steam after Washington County residents vetoed the idea, the Oxford County Agricultural Society hopes to capitalized on Southern Maine's clay feet.
     "I'd like as many as slot machines as we can get, whatever we can get approved for," said Agricultural Society President Suzanne Grover, by telephone, Saturday.
     "Think of this not as the 475 machines," said Jackson, holding aloft the revenue numbers for selectmen at Thursday's meeting. "Think of it as 1,500 machines."
     At the head table, the eyes of Selectman Dennis Sanborn grew wide, and we let out a low whistle.
     Selectmen agreed to call a public hearing whenever the agricultural society is ready to name a date. At this early stage of planning, however, selectmen had only one question, based on Jackson's statement that the Oxford fairgrounds would have to become a commercial track in order to qualify for the slots.
     "Does that mean you'd lose your fair status?" asked Selectman Scott Owens.
     No," said Jackson. "There will still be a fair there."
     Only one thing would be expected to change, said Jackson. As a commercial operation, the track would have to be open for racing a minimum of 35 days per year.
     However, the slot machines can easily support those extra racing days, said Jackson.
     In Bangor, more than $4.8 million from PNG's net revenue is funneled to the sire stakes and supplemental purses.
     "Not long ago, $2,000 was a big purse for a race," said Jackson, in a follow-up interview, Monday. "Now, that's a small race."
     With slot machines helping to boost more prize money, more local farms are raising race horses. According to Jackson, in the last three years, the Maine's equine population has grown 33 percent.
      "That's helped out the farming," said Jackson. "Horse racing is back, which is good because there's a trickle down for everybody."
     "It will be a huge trickle out to area businesses, absolutely," predicts Grover. "There will be more people coming in. It will support more restaurants, on top of the ones we already have. That's needed desperately. It goes without saying that we are losing business left and right.
     Grover acknowledges that a local racino will most likely help the harness racing track at the fairgrounds. By extension, that may well lead to a number of improvements in the annual weeklong Oxford County Fair. However, she stresses, the agricultural society is a nonprofit, meaning slot revenue will not go to line the pockets of fair directors.
     "This is something we want to do for the area, so everyone can be successful," says Grover. "What it will do, hopefully, is augment incomes in this part of Oxford County. The benefit of a racino is money that we, meaning the town of Oxford and the whole of the Oxford Hills area, would get and gain. The whole state gets a percentage of what's generated in Bangor, and we would do the same."
     In addition to the City of Bangor, and horse racing purses, money from Hollywood slots last year went to agricultural fair support ($1.1 million), the states' general fund ($1.1 million), tourism advertising targeted to commercial tracks ($1.5 million), and the Fund for a Healthy Maine ($3.7 million), as well as to fund scholarships to the University of Maine ($743,092) and Maine's community college system ($371,546).
     "Right now, everybody's dollar is being stretched to the limits," says Grover. "Most everyone has had to tighten their belts, and I don't think we've seen the end of it. We've had to cut jobs in the schools. So has Portland. But Bangor hasn't.
     "We are all looking at different avenues for keeping our area alive and vibrant and growing," says Grover. "I think everybody's looking for that and a racino is something everybody will benefit from. I think if you talk to the average person in Bangor, they will tell you it's been a wonderful thing for their area."
     At this point, Grover and Jackson agree, it's too soon to say where on the fairgrounds the slot machines will be housed, or for which 35 days the track will be open.
     "We are in the very, very beginning stages," said Grover. "We are not even ready to crawl yet.
     "In fact," she added, continuing the developing baby metaphor, "right now, we are barely a gleam in the eye."
     "We want to go to the town first," said Jackson. "We want to start by seeing how the people feel. It may not go any further than that."
     "If people are interested and want to support this project, it could probably happen quickly," said Grover. "But if you get a lot of obstacles, like anything else, we'll either have to go over them, around them, or stop.
     Jackson says if Oxford citizens voice their support for a local racino, the Oxford County Agricultural Society's next step will be to approach the Maine's harness racing commission for a commercial license.
     From there, the racino drive will be a learning experience for everyone.
     "It's going to be a process," predicts Jackson. "Just to become a commercial track, we have to prepare a demographic study of everything within a 50-mile radius [of the fairgrounds]. From there, we're not sure. We may need to petition the state, or we may need legislation to make it happen.
     "The town first has to say, yes, we want it," says Grover. "Then we'll take it from there, but I can't say for sure right now how things will go - in what order."
     Still, the fair folks say, whatever sweat equity it takes will be worth the effort.
     "I just think this is a win-win situation for this area," said Jackson. "I'm optimistic about it. I just don't want to go forward only to have the town say no. I want to get started the right way."
     "We've got everything we need," says Grover. "We have the infrastructure already in place, so we don't have to build anything massively expensive. We are not up against a lot of negatives to get to the positive We've got the highway, we've got the fairgrounds - which has probably the best non-commercial race track in the state - and we've got the most important thing of all, we've got the Oxford Hills."