The subject is gambling.

No, don’t worry. I’m not going to launch into some diatribe about the recent betting and wagering woes of Wayne Gretzky’s wife. That stuff is reserved for the national fellas.

As tournament basketball heats up at the Bangor Auditorium, thoughts this week turn to the amount of money exchanging hands only a stone’s throw away at Bass Park and the Hollywood Slots establishment on Main Street.

Consider this: Smack dab in the middle of tourney week at the old barn on Dutton Street, Bass Park is announcing its grand reopening of the Bangor Raceway’s full card of simulcasting horse racing.

Any guesses what the minimum age is to play that stuff? You’re correct if you answered 18. Think about the possibilities, and the sordid ones at that, for high school basketball players and cheerleaders to make the quick jaunt from the Auditorium to the indoor facility at Bass Park, lay down a few bets, then go sauntering back to the next session’s game.

Down the road a piece – a short piece at that – lies the old Miller’s Restaurant building, filled to the brim with slot machines and other gambling paraphernalia.

Hmmm, I’m thinking. What’s the minimum age to get into that establishment? Well, for the record, it’s 21, but as you and I both know, false ID’s are all the rage these days among the younger set. But let’s assume for a minute that not one tourney participant strikes up a relationship this week with a one-armed bandit.

OK. We’ve made that assumption. What about the number of the 50,000 or so folks who frequent the Auditorium annually just to witness the B, C, and D tournaments?

How much of their tourney dollars will go into slot machines this week and not go into the coffers of the Auditorium’s offerings of food, drink, and assorted items such as game programs?

Food for thought. No pun intended.

The news out of Augusta last week is that by Maine slots laws 39 percent of Hollywood Slots income goes to the state after payment to its loyal customers, while 4 percent is used for a fund to encourage racing in Maine at its commercial racetracks.

According to Hollywood Slots general manager Jon Johnson – as previously reported in this newspaper – improvements will be made to not only Bangor Raceway, but also to the old grandstand, which houses the off-track betting facility.

And, dear readers, there is a future permanent site for the slot machine operation. Hollywood Slots is looking at a Main Street location across the street from Bass Park, which is occupied by the Holiday Inn and the Main Street Inn.

The obvious concern arises when the gaming facilities surround the so-called home of high school basketball while the tournament is in progress.

Questions come to mind while the hundreds of kids are in town strutting their stuff down on the Auditorium floor.

Should the MPA, for example, ask the gambling people to shut down their operations while the basketball games are in progress?

Another question that comes to mind is this: Is Bangor the right place to host such interscholastic events in basketball, wrestling and cheering, considering the current status of OTB and slots so close to all the school-related stuff?

Perhaps only time will tell, but I hate to see the proximity of the gambling to the purity of the tourney. It just doesn’t sit well, and now is the time to address these issues.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net