PLAINVILLE — Construction of the state’s lone slots casino is moving ahead on schedule, with no obvious signs of concern that a vote on Nov. 4 could stop everything.
A long line of cars and trucks carrying more than 400 construction workers pulls into Plainridge Racecourse early every workday morning, filling the newly paved parking lot outside the slot machine parlor they’re building. The $227 million project is now nearly halfway complete, and on target to open next spring.
A career center was opened last month on South Street to start filling the 500 permanent positions needed once the gambling hall is opened, according to Eric Schippers, senior vice president of public affairs for the casino’s developer, Penn National Gaming. The jobs, he said, will “all be good-paying, with benefits.”
And by 6 a.m. every day, the stables at the harness track are filled with horse trainers, owners, breeders, grooms, and drivers going about their business at the last venue in the state where their trade is still practiced.
Ballot Question 3 will determine the future of casino gambling in Massachusetts.
A yes vote would repeal the 2011 law expanding gambling, and end what casino opponents say is a dangerous way for the state to make money.
It would halt construction at Plainridge, and stop plans from moving forward on casino projects in Everett and other parts of the state. And without the revenue from the slots parlor, harness racing would end at Plainridge, officials say.
“Clearly, a lot is at stake,” Schippers said.
For horse owner, trainer, and harness driver Jimmy Hardy, who says he and his colleagues have been living with a sword over their heads for nearly a decade, the vote will mark the finish line for a battle to not only save their jobs, but their profession.
“We’re confident things are going to be OK,” he said. “The voters in this town overwhelmingly voted for this, and I can’t see people overturning that.”
But Erin Earnst, who lives across the town line in Foxborough, just a couple miles from Plainridge, says the people of Plainville didn’t know exactly what they were voting for when they supported Penn National’s plans by a better than 3-to-1 ratio.
“This money from the slots is not going to be put back into our communities,” she said. “We’re going to lose the family-friendliness of our neighborhood.”
She worked against the slots parlor in Plainville, and said she is now fighting to pass the repeal.
So is Geri Eddins of Milford, a leader in the effort that defeated a proposal by Foxwoods to build a casino in her town near the Holliston border.
“Any benefits that will come to a community will be far outweighed by the negative impacts on the quality of life,” she said.
Eddins said she and some other members of Casino-Free Milford are working in support of the gaming-repeal referendum, and plan to hold signs, campaign door to door, and make phone calls.
The track, about 5 miles south of Gillette Stadium at Route 1 and Interstate 495, had been just surviving for years. Its owners and local officials were waiting for the casino legislation to pass, and hoping for the slots license they believed would revitalize the business.
It didn’t go exactly as supporters had planned. Just weeks before the town was to vote on the slots parlor proposal, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission disqualified Plainridge owners Ourway Realty from the licensing process.
“We thought it was done,” said Bill Abdelnour, president of the New England Amateur Harness Drivers Club, a horse owner and driver at Plainridge. “But then we hit the lottery with Penn National,” he said.
Penn National’s bid for a gambling hall in Tewksbury had been shot down by Town Meeting voters there, and when the Plainville project lost its backers, the Pennsylvania company immediately shifted gears to take over the bid, and eventually secured the lone slots license in the state for Plainridge.
It was a day of jubilation at the racecourse in February when the Gaming Commission’s decision was announced.
“This is what we’ve been waiting and working hard for,” Abdelnour said. “We feel confident, we’re move-full-steam-ahead, we’re positive, positive, positive that the people of this state will understand.”
What the “No on 3” campaign is counting on is that voters will understand the jobs and economic boost that the slots casino and its restaurants, Doug Flutie Sports Bar, banquet hall, and food court, as well as harness racing and simulcast races from around the country that will be offered at Plainridge, will do for Plainville, the surrounding area, and the state.
The small community has already received a first payment of $50,000, according to Town Administrator Joseph Fernandes, and anticipates receiving annual payments of $2.7 million for the first five years of operation, and a percentage of gaming revenue after that.
Mitigation agreements between Penn National and neighboring Foxborough, Mansfield, North Attleborough, and Wrentham are also in place.
It is jobs, however, that casino proponents say are the key to this election.
According to Schippers, who said his company is very involved in the campaign to defeat Question 3, the casinos proposed for the state will provide 10,000 new permanent jobs.
Schippers said his company is “plowing ahead and hoping for the best,” but would not elaborate on what steps it would take, should Question 3 pass, to recoup the $100 million he said it has already invested in Plainridge.
Denise McGovern, a North Attleborough resident who has worked at Plainridge for eight years, said the employees have been told to expect the worst if the referendum passes.
“We’re going to close, and look out there, all that shiny metal is just going to turn to rust,” she said.