AUGUSTA – In a move Scarborough Downs owner Sharon Terry called “an extreme disappointment,” the Maine Senate voted last week to kill a bill that would have allowed the harness racing track to add slots to its facility off Route 1.

In addition to the slots bill that would have benefited Scarborough Downs, the Senate also defeated five other gaming proposals, which were all opposed by the owners of the Hollywood Casino & Raceway in Bangor and the Oxford Casino, now owned by Churchill Downs.

Both Terry and her attorney Ed MacColl said the Senate vote shows how effective the out-of-state gaming companies were in their lobbying efforts to shut down any proposal that would expand the gaming options in Maine.

Both also said the repeated efforts by Scarborough Downs to add slots to its offerings is an effort to preserve the state’s historic harness racing industry.

Terry said her plan now is to “hunker down, try to survive and maintain what we have now.” But, she added, Scarborough Downs is “not going to give up and go away.”

She said, “There’s a lot of sentiment in favor of harness racing, which is a local industry.” Terry also said that unlike the Hollywood and Oxford casinos any money made from gaming at Scarborough Downs would go right back into the Maine economy.

That’s why, “I hate to give up,” Terry added. “There are just too many people depending on us.”

But, she also admitted to being frustrated and tired and said the “$60 million question is how to beat back” the lobbying efforts of the two casinos. “I’m at a loss right now. We need to caucus and decide what we will need to do.”

The local harness racing season started on Saturday and although Sunday’s weather forced cancellation of the second day of racing, Terry is hoping to have a successful run this year.

She was also encouraged by the number of people who turned out on Saturday to enjoy the races. “It was a big day and crazy busy. There were a lot of people here and we even saw some new faces, as well.”

MacColl, who’s been lobbying the Legislature this session on behalf of Scarborough Downs, agreed with Terry and called the Senate vote last week, “very disappointing for the Downs and the harness racing community.”

He also reiterated that “the (harness racing) industry simply cannot survive in the face of full-blown casinos so long as the law prohibits tracks from offering additional forms of gaming. The plight of (Scarborough Downs) is even more difficult now that Massachusetts has licensed Penn National to operate a racino at Plainridge outside Boston.”

MacColl said that Penn National, which owns the Hollywood Casino, along with Churchill Downs, “worked hard and effectively to preserve their market protection and monopoly profits here in Maine.”

But he added, “Obviously, we did not work hard enough explaining what a wonderful opportunity the Downs’ survival and expansion (would) be to tourism, to jobs and to preserving our heritage and our beautiful, productive open farmlands.”

In terms of the future of Scarborough Downs, MacColl said, “we will have to work doubly hard in the near term to survive and also to get (our) message out more clearly.”

All Terry wants to see is for “Maine heritage, agriculture, employment and fair competition (to) ultimately win out, not the out-of-state monopolists.”