In a recent column (Feb. 17), Liquor and Lottery Commissioner Mike Peters complained about revenues Maine’s only racino, Hollywood Slots in Bangor, is required to send the state for distribution to the harness racing industry.

The short answer to Peters is all racing venues are required to share their revenues. There is no reason why the racino should be exempt.

Peters erroneously claims the racino will share with Maine’s commercial racetracks and off-track betting establishments nearly $25 million over the next two years. Actually, since 2005, the total racino revenues shared with Maine’s commercial tracks is about $3 million.

Harness racing is tightly regulated. Participants submit detailed financial statements annually to the Maine Harness Racing Commission. If the dedicated revenues were used for new cars or castles, as Peters falsely alleges, those purchases would be disclosed.

Most important, racino revenue sharing is essential to preserving Maine racing, which is the reason Maine voters approved the racino in the first place.

Harness racing must compete with both in-state and out-of-state gaming, including Peters’ ever-expanding lottery.

Racing also competes with illegal Internet gaming and Maine’s illegal “gray machines.” The Maine State Police estimate illegal machines generate $90 million per year in untaxed revenues.

When the lottery was introduced in 1974, harness racing was hurt badly. It’s far more expensive to conduct race meets than suck ping pong balls through vacuum hoses. So racing declined. By 2003, when the voters approved the racino, Maine had lost its commercial track in Lewiston, its OTBs in Bath and Presque Isle, and scores of horse farms – and Maine’s largest commercial track, Scarborough Downs, had lost $14 million.

Since the racino opened, taxes from slots have topped $40 million. The dedicated portion of those revenues have provided prescription drugs to Maine seniors, financed scholarships and fueled resurgence in Maine’s 150-year-old harness racing industry. Harness racing in turn has continued to support all 25 Maine agricultural fairs, thousands of jobs, and more than 150,000 acres of productive open land. The 2007 Economic Impact of the Equine Industry reported harness racing (excluding the racino) contributes $86 million to the Maine economy each year.

This resurgence of Maine harness racing has cost Peters’ lottery almost nothing. In 2007, the Lottery Commission reported instant ticket lottery sales were down by 4.6 percent in one of Maine’s 16 counties, costing Maine’s general fund $500,000. The same report stated the racino transferred “only $5.6 million” to the state’s general fund in the same period. That’s a net gain to Maine’s general fund of $5.1 million.

I would say Peters and the lottery commission are seeing the glass as half empty.

Kathryn Rolston, Westbrook

Editor’s Note: The author is a former spokeswoman for Scarborough Downs.