Dog Racing: Carcieri vs. lawmakers

LINCOLN, R.I. (AP/WPRI) - Twin River's final scheduled greyhound races for 2009 went off Saturday, but the races may not be the last ones this year at the bankrupt slot parlor.

Twin River filed for bankruptcy protection in June and is seeking to permanently end greyhound racing. But Rhode Island lawmakers are fighting to run 200 days of live racing at the track
even though current law only requires 125.

Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed the legislation that would extend the live racing days, but lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly have said they expect to override it when they return in September.

Supporters of the bill say it's needed to preserve tax revenue and retain the 5,000 people a week who visit the track. Jennifer Bramley, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association, said it's in Twin River's best interest to keep greyhound racing going in the coming weeks.

"The kennels are staying in place and we are hopeful the Senate and House come in September and override the governor's veto," Bramley said.

Patti Doyle, spokeswoman for Twin River, has said the slot parlor loses $10.5 million a year from greyhound racing. The bankruptcy filing came as Twin River's owners struggled to repay
$500 million in debt.

"(Dog racing has) been a losing proposition for many, many years. It's not an area of the business that we can sustain," Doyle said. "We're going to see it come to an end (Saturday) for this year, but there's a lot that needs to be decided in terms of the future of greyhound racing."

Carcieri has supported ending greyhound racing because it doesn't make financial sense, said administration spokeswoman Amy Kempe.

"It's certainly not the only thing that caused the financial problems at Twin River, but it certainly didn't help," Kempe said.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)