Millennium Gaming CEO: Rockingham Park is Best Site in New England

With a new casino bill set to go before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 19, the company that holds and option to buy Rockingham Park should that legislation pass is starting to ramp up its public outreach.

In a very similar forum to one held in Salem in September 2011, Millennium Gaming co-CEO Bill Wortman once again addressed the racetrack plan to residents while answering several questions about what a 425,000-square-foot facility and over 3,000 jobs would mean for the town.

"We believe that Rockingham Park is not only the best place in New Hampshire to have a facility, but I truly believe that it's the best place in the entire New England area," Wortman said to a crowd of at least 200 people squeezed into the lower grandstand of the racetrack.

Also much like his 2011 presentation, Wortman offered a split comparison of Rockingham Park and one of his company's finished casino products – the Meadows Racetrack & Casino, located about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh in Washington County, Pa.

That facility has 3,300 slot units, about 75 table games, restaurants, charitable gaming, lounge areas and horse racing. Rockingham Park would be built in a similar fashion, and Wortman said that expectations are for 10,000 people a day and up to 4 million people per year.

By comparison, Wortman said the competition for the Meadows is greater than the competition that a Salem casino would face in Massachusetts.

But despite competing casinos in downtown Pittsburgh and West Virginia, he said the Meadows is doing extraordinarily well.

"We are at a level that is twice what the state (of Pennsylvania) thought we would be in their studies, and that is a result I think of the facility itself, how we operate the facility," Wortman said.

Millennium Gaming recently extended its option on Rockingham Park to the tune of several years.

"I won't release the actual date, but we're here for the long run," Wortman said. Millennium Gaming has had a stake in the facility for eight years.

Despite the wait, Wortman said that Millenium Gaming believes that there's as good a chance now as there ever has been for legislation to pass in New Hampshire.

"I think that in today's world you have the corner office who ran on expanded gaming to some degree, who is an advocate of expanded gaming and who is working toward moving it forward," he said of the election of the November election of Gov. Maggie Hassan.

Manchester Democratic Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, who is co-sponsoring the bill along with Salem Sen. Chuck Morse, answered an audience member's question related to how people are feeling about a casino elsewhere in the state, specifically the north country.

"This piece of legislation, if indeed we pass it, will benefit all of the people of the state of New Hampshire," he said. "Certainly the venue will get its share, but the dollars produced will benefit all of the people in the state of New Hampshire which is why we do these things."

Many residents arrived at the forum having lived in Salem for decades. As Wortman said always happens when he meets a resident, they shared stories about the Rockingham Park of old.

One woman, a 59-year veteran of the town named June, said she used to ride her pony to the racetrack back when she was barely a teenager.

Beverly Coyle, a 40-year resident, said she has seen the fall of Rockingham park, and along with a lot of other people, she wouldn't mind a casino.

Coyle said she was concerned about traffic coming in from other parts of Salem away from Interstate 93.

Wortman explained that a full traffic study would need to take place before anything is passed.

"Certainly (Interstate) 93 is going to be the most used route," he said. "We think that would be the most impacted. There's no doubt that the other roadways within the community will have some impact. I don't know what that impact is."

Some residents were also worried about the impact a casino would have on the surrounding business community.

Wortman explained that not only has the Meadows brought in between $200 million and $300 million in new construction in retail and entertainment space, but the casino has worked with existing local businesses through a neighborhood partners program.

The program allows customers to come into the casino and earn points. Those points can be exchanged at the retail locations for goods and services.

On public safety, he told the crowd that expected increased police patrols in Washington County were never needed, despite the original assertion from the local police chief that several extra troopers would be necessary.

Last year's failed legislation had 1 percent of casino revenues going toward the treatment of problem gambling. A total of 3 percent was ear-marked to the town of Salem. Wortman only spoke in speculation since the details of this year's bill have not fully been made public.

Should legislation pass, one casino license is expected, and that license would go out to bid.

One resident sought a date for when the project would get off the ground and be completed, and Wortman said with confidence that if a license is awarded by early 2014, a casino would be done by no later than 2016.

There is history at this park," Wortman said. "That needs to continue, and it needs to continue in the way that it was, not necessarily in the way that it is."

Rockingham Park president Ed Callahan joined Wortman in urging voters to send a message to Concord and vote 'yes' on a non-binding casino referendum on the ballot in March.

Messages displayed around the room sent the same request to those in attendance. The pro-casino advocacy group N.H. Casino Now was also in the building asking for volunteers and seeking citizen sign-ups for Salem's new Casino Advisory Committee.