Lincoln Park’s transformation into a thriving ‘racino’
may offer a glimpse of the future for Massachusetts’ tracks

By TOM BENNER ~ Patriot Ledger State House Bureau - 1-18-03

LINCOLN, R.I.

ike the four existing racetracks in Massachusetts, Lincoln Park greyhound track was once a hurting enterprise on the brink of closing its doors for good.

The crowds of more than 35,000 that came out to bet on thoroughbred horse racing in the 1940s and 1950s were long gone. And the host of people who turned out in the 1970s after the track switched to greyhounds quickly diminished, too, eclipsed by the lottery and other forms of gambling.

But in September 1992, Lincoln Park added video slot machines as a side attraction. First there were 400, then 800, then 1,200. Today there are 1,700 slot machines at Lincoln Park, and if chief executive Dan Bucci gets his way, he’ll add another 1,300 to his thriving business, now in its 10th successive year of double-digit growth.

“The casino-esque market is nowhere near saturated, and the pari-mutuel market continues to decline,” Bucci said.

Today Lincoln Park does $900 million a year in business, and most of it - $800 million - is generated by the slot machines. Of the $100 million generated by racing, most of that - $70 million - comes from simulcast racing, with players betting on “off-track” races going on elsewhere that they watch on television screens. Greyhound racing at the park itself generates only $30 million a year.

Lincoln Park’s transformation into a thriving “racino” - a racetrack turned minicasino - may foretell the future for Massachusetts’ two horse tracks and two dog tracks, as Beacon Hill policy makers look to expanded gambling as a possible new revenue source.

Racinos are limited versions of full-fledged casinos. Video slot machines and track betting are the only forms of waging, whereas casinos such as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut offer table games and high-roller areas, big-name shows and top-quality restaurants.

In effect, racinos offer a middle ground to Massachusetts legislators between doing nothing at all and a high-stakes roll on a Las Vegas-style casino. The state’s four racetracks already exist in their respective host communities, are already regulated by the government and can install slot machines with relative ease.

“It’s putting your toe in the water,” Bucci said. “Taking a step into casinos, that’s deep water.”

A former employee at the Suffolk Downs and Wonderland racetracks, Bucci added: “It’s also serendipitous to the racetrack industry, they’re in decline. The Massachusetts racetrack industry is not going to exist absent intervention.”

Lincoln Park employs 800 people, with a $16 million payroll. It is the third-largest revenue source for Rhode Island, after the state income and sales tax, putting $120 million into Rhode Island’s coffers each year.

Bucci believes the gambling market is so far from saturated that he doesn’t appear too concerned that Massachusetts may open four racinos of its own.

“Route 95 has become a conveyor belt for leisure dollars from Rhode Island and Massachusetts people going to Connecticut,” Bucci said.

Thirty-five percent of Lincoln Park’s 3 million patrons yearly come from Massachusetts. One of them, Chris Nutting of Quincy, said he’d much rather have a Lincoln Park - or a Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun - in his home state.

“People are going to spend the money, why not have it locally?” the 36-year-old engineer asked. “I just think the state is losing a ton of money.”

Another woman, a longtime employee at the Raynham/Taunton greyhound track, has been driving with her husband to Lincoln Park for years.

“It’s ridiculous they can’t have (slot machines) in Raynham,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be used.

Inside the casino portion of Lincoln Park, gamblers have little way of knowing they’re at a racetrack. There is a sit-down restaurant, a fast-food station, and cocktail waitresses who deliver drinks to gamblers who prefer to stay at their slot machines. There’s no easy way to see the dog track outside or an enclosed 5,000-seat auditorium overlooking the track.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays are “dark days” - that is, no greyhound racing whatsoever.

“I made a conscious decision to separate the two attractions,” Bucci said.

“The racing folks are a little more boisterous, a much tougher crowd, and (slot machine users) are going to be potentially intimidated by someone standing next to a TV with some guying yelling, ‘Come on, you f-ing horse.’”

The 1,700 machines at Lincoln Park are “video lottery terminals,” which accept bills between $1 and $100, much like a soda vending machine, and pay winnings with a redeemable receipt as opposed to actual coins.

The 1,300 additional machines that Bucci wants to add would be “coin-drop” mechanical slot machines, such as the “one-arm bandits” commonly found in traditional casinos.

“Slot machines are more attractive than video lottery terminals,” Bucci said. “I think if you ask 10 Vegas people, most of them would say it’s the psychology of the coin, the sound, all the ambiance.”

The average Lincoln Park patron is about 55, and spends four hours at the racino, Bucci estimates. There are slightly more female than male patrons, he said.

Five states currently have racinos, as well as Canada. Massachusetts and New York are among the 10 states considering allowing slot machines at existing racetracks.

Bucci said he has no interest is expanding Lincoln Park - which is owned by London-based Wembley PLC, former owner of Wembley Stadium - into a full-fledged casino.

“Seventy percent of a casino’s revenue comes from slot machines,” he said. “The other is the more expensive. Table games are inordinately labor intensive, you’ve got people watching people watching people.”

Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com