Bangor Raceway improvements detailed at meeting

AUGUSTA – A portion of the proceeds from Hollywood Slots in Bangor are going to be invested in further improvements to the harness racing facilities at Bass Park, the gaming facility’s general manager said during a meeting Thursday of the Maine Gambling Control Board.

According to the state’s slots law, Hollywood Slots is required to send the state 39 percent of its income after payout to players, and 4 percent is earmarked for a fund to encourage racing at Maine commercial harness racing tracks. The company also pays a 1 percent tax on its total handle.

Though the law does not specify how the 4 percent for racing must be used, Hollywood Slots General Manager Jon Johnson said Thursday the company plans to apply it to improvements at Bangor Raceway, both to the racing facilities and to the track’s more-than-50-year-old grandstand.

“It has been in dire need of repair and we were planning on doing this anyway, whether we had that money or not,” Johnson said after Thursday’s meeting. “A lot of this work is going to be completed by April,” when this year’s racing season opens, he said.

According to Johnson, the company last year made $620,000 in improvements to the grandstand at Bangor Raceway. Roughly half that amount was used to convert the enclosed area underneath the grandstand into an off-track betting parlor and office space.

Hollywood Slots’ parent company, Penn National Gaming Inc., last year acquired the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street, as well as the OTB operation that operated out of its lower level. The OTB was moved to the grandstand last June. The restaurant was turned into a temporary slots facility, which opened in November.

The temporary site eventually will be replaced by a larger, permanent gaming facility. The company is eyeing a Main Street site across the street from Bass Park now occupied by the Holiday Inn-Civic Center and the Main Street Inn.

Further improvements to the grandstand, including the installation of a drop ceiling, climate control system and painting, were made later in the year, after the OTB moved in. In addition, the winner’s circle area was rebuilt.

“This year we’re going to be making approximately $300,000 in capital improvements, so we look at the impact we have had on harness racing as extremely positive,” he said, adding that the number of race dates will increase from 28 to 44 this season.

This year’s expenditure in facility improvements will bring the company’s two-year total to nearly $1 million.

The projects were planned with input from the harness racing community and the Maine Harness Racing Commission, among others, Johnson said.

Proposed are a combination of structural and aesthetic improvements, including replacement of the fence in front of the grandstand, the repair and repainting of the grandstand’s bleachers and enclosure and the renovation of offices at the top of the grandstand.

One of the horse barns will be converted to a paddock, which is a staging area for horses preparing to race, and work to level and repave the area immediately surrounding the grandstand will be completed, he said.

“What people are going to see is a greatly improved grandstand and a greatly improved racetrack,” he said.

A grand reopening for the grandstand is set for the weekend of Feb. 18 and 19, he said.

Also during the meeting, Scott Welch, the gambling control board’s auditor, reported that the gross wager at Hollywood Slots totaled $95,706,924 as of the end of January, after three months of operation.

The wagering has been increasing monthly, Welch’s report showed, from $28.5 million in the first month to $31.7 in the second month, and almost $35.5 last month.

According to Johnson, Hollywood Slots’ earnings so far total $6.4 million, half of which was paid to the state in taxes.

“The numbers appear to be growing every month and we are getting many, many positive comments,” he said.