The first floor of the parking garage at Charles Town Races and Slots stood half empty Thursday evening, a few minutes before post time of the night’s first thoroughbred race. It was a typical turnout for a weekday night.
More than any study or any statistics, the license plates gleaming under the bright overhead lights told the tale of where Charles Town’s patrons came from. Virtually all were the simple white plates of Maryland and Virginia. Only a handful bore the blue and yellow of West Virginia.
And if Maryland passes slots legislation, those out-of-state license plates may disappear.
“It’s certainly going to put a hit on Charles Town,” said Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie, who for 40 years worked installing gaming equipment at horse tracks around the country ? including Charles Town.
“I think they’re just going to have to tighten their belt,” he said. “They’re not going to go out of business by any stretch, but they’re not going to flourish like they did before.”
Penn National Gaming, Inc., which owns and operates Charles Town Races and Slots, did not respond to requests for comment.
An August study of slots and the racing industry in Maryland and neighboring states, conducted by the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, showed that Marylanders accounted for roughly $150 million to $200 million of gross revenue at Charles Town and West Virginia’sthree other slots venues.
The study found that Charles Town generated $448 million in gross revenue in 2006, more than any other racetrack slots venue in the nation. Maryland is Charles Town’s most lucrative market, the study showed, with Montgomery County residents generating much of that revenue.
Charles Town boasts nearly 5,100 slot machines, making it the fourth-largest slot machine casino in the country, and Penn National has invested approximately $250 million into the facility after starting with just 400 slot machines in one small part of the property in early 1997, according to Roger Ramey, vice-president of public affairs for the track.
Ramey was president of the track when it was sold to Penn National Gaming in 1996. He said purses ? daily prize money ? at the track have increased from about $20,000 per day (at that time) to $180,000-$220,000.
“People can feed themselves and the horse now,” he quipped.
But voters in a June referendum did not approve table games for Charles Town, making it the only one of West Virginia’s four tracks not to have the games. Penn must wait two years before bringing the matter up for another vote.
The company has already made a move into the Maryland market by purchasing the Rosecroft Raceway harness track in Fort Washington this fall for $20 million.
Other than the August study, the impact of slots on Charles Town and other neighboring states’ operations hasn’t been officially measured, according to Maryland Racing Commission Executive Director Mike Hopkins ? or even much considered.
“No one’s even gone there,” he said.
