BANGOR – For Mike and Betty Arey, Saturday’s running of the 137th Belmont Stakes was bittersweet.

The Bar Harbor couple, regulars at the Post Time off-track betting facility in the basement of the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street, sat in the front row watching the last race for the OTB and reminisced about all the fun they’ve had at the landmark restaurant.

“We’ll miss it being here,” Betty Arey said. “We’re used to it. We’ll miss Miller’s because we’ve got to know a lot of people here.

“We’ve been here since it first started, and we’ve always been made to feel welcome,” she said.

The OTB, located at Miller’s since mid-1994, closed Sunday as part of the $3.8 million sale of the restaurant to Penn National Gaming Inc.

Penn National received its state license to operate the OTB in May and plans to move the off-track betting facility to the Bangor Raceway grandstand and install up to 500 slot machines at Miller’s as their temporary racino site.

If all goes as planned, the OTB will open in July at the grandstand, with room to accommodate up to 200 people. The refurbished restaurant on Main Street will be open by the end of the year to patrons interested in playing the slots.

“This is the last hurrah at the present time,” John Miller, who took over running the internationally known restaurant from his father, Sonny Miller, years ago, said Saturday. “For the most part [the OTB has] been subsidizing my restaurant business. It’s been a good addition for that reason.”

Miller’s, which has operated in Bangor for five decades, closed May 15.

A $75 million permanent gaming complex, operated by Penn National, which will house 1,500 slots and the OTB, eventually will replace the two temporary facilities at the restaurant and at the grandstand.

“I know the people of Bangor are anxiously awaiting the slot machines they voted on a few years ago,” Miller said.

The landscapes of cities change over time, including that of Bangor, Miller said. The Bangor Mall has drawn much of Main Street’s business traffic to that area, he added.

“Bangor has definitely changed, and I think the racino project will bring this side of the city back around again,” he said. “That’s why I think I may come back here once they [Penn National] move to their permanent site.

“The option will be there for me to reacquire [the restaurant],” Miller said.

The longtime restaurateur said he has been looking at other locations to possibly open another restaurant, but added, “My car automatically goes to Main Street. It doesn’t go anywhere else.”

Since the OTB closed Sunday, after opening for a few hours so ticket holders could cash out, others with winning tickets will need to head to Scarborough Downs to cash in any remaining winning tickets, Carole Bemis, office manager and administrative assistant for the OTB, said Saturday.

“If there is anyone holding a winning ticket, they won’t be able to cash it here,” Bemis said.

Not everybody is happy with the move, Surry resident Herb Lewis said while watching the races Saturday.

“I don’t know if I’m going to come when it reopens,” he said. “I didn’t mind coming and dropping money here at Miller’s because they’re from Maine. These new guys are from out of state.”

Part of the sales agreement of Miller’s included a provision that gives employees preference during Penn National’s hiring process, Miller said.

“We’re a family business, and family looks after family,” he said.

After working with Penn National for months on the sales agreement, Miller said he’s excited about the project.

“I think Penn will do a good job,” he said. “They’re very professional and want to do it right. For a big company to have that attitude – they have my vote.”