In the eastern American state of Maine and the operator of the off-track betting facility at the former Scarborough Downs horseracing track has reportedly announced that it has called time due to a host of rising costs.

According to a Sunday report from local television broadcaster WMTW-TV, the simulcast wagering operation closed for good with the loss of ten full-time jobs yesterday after being premiered some two decades ago as a way of helping the larger horseracing enterprise to remain commercially viable.

Steady slump:

Located about eight miles south of Portland, the 524-acre Scarborough Downs property reportedly opened in 1950 and for a time was the state’s largest horseracing track hosting meets throughout the entirety of the annual calendar. However, financial pressures purportedly forced the Cumberland County enterprise to call time on most of its operations with the exception of its off-track betting service from late-November of 2020.

Cost concerns:

Denise Terry serves as President for Scarborough Downs Off-Track Betting and she reportedly told the broadcaster that the decision to shutter the facility’s simulcast wagering service was made last week almost a fortnight after the partner firm currently redeveloping the entire site into a $621 million residential and business district gifted 25 acres to the conservationist Scarborough Land Trust.

Terry reportedly stated…

“Unfortunately, I was not able to figure a way to make it all continue. The expenses, it just all doesn’t add up for me to hold on.”

Serious shift:

Despite making the decision to close, Terry reportedly asserted that she remains supportive of legislation that is to soon allow the state’s off-track betting parlors as well as its Hollywood Casino Bangor and Oxford Casino Hotel facilities to premiere in-person sportsbetting. This potentially life-saving measure was purportedly joined by a bill that gave Maine’s four federally-recognized tribes the ability to begin offering online sports wagering including on lucrative action from the National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL).

Aboriginal authorization:

Maine Governor Janet Mills reportedly put her signature to Legislative Document 585 on May 2 so as to allow the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Penobscot Nation, the Mi’kmaq Tribe and the Passamaquoddy Tribe to have a monopoly over online sports wagering in ‘The Pine Tree State’. This legislation, which could go into effect from as soon as July, is to purportedly moreover permit the tribal quartet to keep any revenues from their coming sportsbetting operations in lieu of being granted greater sovereignty.