BOSTON (AP) – While Mainers decide how they’ll vote Nov. 5 on a plan to allow slot machines at two commercial harness racing tracks, a similar debate is simmering in the Massachusetts Statehouse.

The proposal on Maine’s referendum ballot seeks to allow slots at tracks now located in Bangor and Scarborough.

The proposal in the Massachusetts Senate would allow only the state’s four track owners to submit bids for three slot machine licenses, which could raise the value of the tracks substantially.

Two of those racetracks – Suffolk Downs in East Boston and Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere – are in the district of Senate President Robert E. Travaglini. The other two are Raynham/Taunton Greyhound Park in Raynham and Plainridge Racecourse, a harness racing track in Plainville.

Senate leaders, including Sen. Michael W. Morrissey, D-Quincy, chairman of the Government Relations Committee, and minority leader Brian P. Lees, R-East Longmeadow, said the tracks are a natural choice for slot machines, in part because they already host gambling.

But state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill said the proposal minimizes competition and could hurt the state’s chances for attracting the highest bids. He pointed out that most of the state would be excluded from the plan, because no racetracks are located in central and western Massachusetts.

“There has to be geographic fairness,” Cahill, who also opposes legalization of casino gambling in the state, told the Boston Sunday Globe. “It’s not fair to exclude western Massachusetts because they don’t have a racetrack. They have expressed an interest in gambling, too. Openly bidding it out makes the most sense.”

In Maine, supporters of the slot machine proposal say the gambling machines would generate more business and interest in a harness racing industry on the ropes. They also fear the final death blow for Maine’s harness racing industry will come if other regional states like Massachusetts allow race track slots and Maine doesn’t.

Earlier this year, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s chief economic adviser, Robert Pozen, testified at a Statehouse hearing that the administration would probably oppose any bill that props up the state’s struggling racing industry. And Shawn Feddeman, a Romney spokeswoman, said the governor remains unconvinced that the state needs expanded gambling to solve its fiscal troubles.

Casino proponents are also critical of the plan. The bill would create a new Gaming Commission that would take private land and lease it to casino developers, many of whom have already taken out options on potential casino sites. Meanwhile, racetrack owners would see the value of their businesses increase after simply buying a license.

“By virtue of owning these struggling businesses and having friends on Beacon Hill, four groups, not hundreds, stand to hit what I call the gaming lottery,” said Dennis M. Murphy, a former state representative who now lobbies for a casino development company.

“Let’s face it, their 1/8racing 3/8 businesses will instantly gain a value of $150 million, easy,” Murphy said. “I don’t know about the rest of the citizens of Massachusetts, but I would love to be put in a lottery where I get a 75 percent chance of having that kind of value added to my business.”

Ann Dufresne, a spokeswoman for Travaglini, said he has not taken an active role in the push to expand gambling, and noted the legislation is still in draft form.

But she added that Travaglini does consider the racing industry a high priority. “It represents 2,500 jobs in his district, and he’s concerned about one of the major employers in his district,” she said.

Morrissey, who heads the committee writing the gaming bill, dismissed the notion that the proposed bidding procedure would favor racetrack owners. “We’re not giving away anything for nothing,” Morrissey said. “I want them to pay until it hurts.”

But Morrissey conceded that he might agree to allow others to compete for licenses, as long as the racing industry remains a primary beneficiary of the bill.

“If we could find a way to get more money, I’m open to opening up the 1/8bidding 3/8 pool,” Morrissey said. “But we also look at this as an opportunity for slots to help live racing.”

House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, who has stood against expanded gambling because he says it could hurt the state’s lucrative lottery sales, has thus far declined to comment on the Senate’s plans. Charles Rasmussen, Finneran’s spokesman, declined to comment on the issue.

Cahill shares Finneran’s concern that the expanding gaming opportunities would cannibalize the nearly $1 billion in revenues brought in annually by the lottery, which the Treasury oversees.

In Maine, where voters will also decide Nov. 5 whether to allow a $650 million Indian casino, little has been made of the potential impact of the gambling facility on state lottery revenues. Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, opposes the Indian casino.

AP-ES-10-19-03 1302EDT

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