Other racino states weigh in on threat of crime wave

As part of an effort to assess what Bangor can expect for crime now that it is host city to the state’s only slots facility, the Bangor Daily News consulted law enforcement officials in three other states with racinos. Here’s what they had to say:

Iowa

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona, Iowa, became one of the first racetrack casinos in the U.S. when it opened in 1995 in the Polk County town of about 13,500.

So far, there hasn’t been much of an impact in terms of crime, Altoona Police Chief John Gray said in a telephone interview last month.

“We track all of our calls for service” at the racino, which is open around the clock and has about 10,000 visitors a day, many of them from nearby Des Moines.

“Those run maybe 10 to 12 percent of our total service calls, which isn’t much of an impact, and that’s really steady,” Gray said.

Gray noted that Altoona saw more of an increase in local criminal activity after the 24-hour shopping centers came to town.

“Shopping centers don’t have large security staffs,” he said, but gambling facilities do. Besides the racino’s in-house security and surveillance operations, the facility hires off-duty Altoona police as well as county sheriff’s deputies so that there is “an immediate law enforcement presence, 24-7.”

Since Prairie Meadows opened, Altoona has seen mostly small-time crime, including the theft of coins or tokens, intoxication, car thefts, family fights, bad checks and people wanted on warrants.

New Mexico

Slot machine casinos were legalized for the state’s racetracks in 1998, with the first racino opening the following year.

As part of preparing for the opening of Hollywood Slots, Maine Gambling Control Board Executive Director Bob Welch visited a counterpart in New Mexico, home of Black Gold Casino at Zia Park, where the central site monitoring system used in Maine was piloted.

Penn National Gaming announced last week that it has entered an agreement to buy Zia Park and its casino, and the 320 acres they occupy, for $200 million.

“The [New Mexico Gambling Control Board] has a police arm that would take a look at any pattern we might see,” deputy executive director Greg Saunders, of New Mexico’s gambling control board, said in a recent telephone interview.

“Generally what we’re seeing is mostly petty crime, not on the level of organized crime. In our minds, it’s fairly minor,” Saunders said, listing counterfeit bills, bad checks and thefts as some examples.

“Prostitution and drugs show up, but it’s fairly minor,” Saunders said. “But how do you tie that into gambling? You can’t.”

West Virginia

West Virginia has been in the racino business since September 1994, when slots were introduced at four of the state’s racetracks after a limited trial period.

Sheriff Everett “Ed” Boober of West Virginia’s Jefferson County, a Maine native, was one of the resources a Bangor delegation tapped in its effort to determine what the Queen City can expect with regard to gambling-related crime.

Jefferson County is home to Charles Town Races & Slots, a Penn National racino that Bangor city officials visited in March 2004.

“I’m not going to sit here and pretend crime doesn’t exist, but the significant thing is that most of the crime we see is the result of large groups and alcohol,” Boober said in a recent interview.

There also has been some prostitution, he said, chalking it up to the combination of jackpot winners wanting to celebrate and women willing to help them – for a fee.

“Absolutely,” he said, adding that Charles Town security personnel “are very, very aware of it” and monitor surveillance cameras closely to prevent it.

He attributed keeping crime in check to communication among law enforcement, gambling regulators and racino operators.

“I’m finding that we have an excellent partner [in Penn National],” Boober said. “We get together with the manager every couple of months” to discuss any crime issues that arise.