Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Owners of the Twin River greyhound track and slot parlor decided on Wednesday to suspend live racing on Aug. 8 -- instead of May 31 -- to remove any doubt they have conducted the minimum number of racing days required under state law.

State law requires Twin River to operate at least 125 live racing days each year as a condition for offering the acres of video-slots that bring in most of their gambling dollars.

In a letter to the department of Regulation on Tuesday, Twin River vice president and general counsel Craig L. Eaton wrote: "This correspondence is to inform the DBR of the indefinite suspension of racing dates for the balance of 2009 as of May [when] Twin River will have run its legally-mandated (125) racing dates for year 2009."

Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle confirmed that Twin River sought and won permission to conduct up to 240 days of live races this year. But a dispute arose over the number of racing days versus performances held so far, with DBR questioning whether Twin River was, in fact, within three weeks of meeting its annual requirement.

To satisfy DBR's concerns, Doyle said, the owners decided to continue the live racing through the first week in August. She said it remains undecided whether Twin River will continue the races at the current Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Saturday pace.

 Tags  greyhound racing Lincoln RI Twin River

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