---

PLAINVILLE - When Plainridge Racecourse President Gary Piontkowski testifies before a legislative committee considering legalizing gambling today, he says he will try to dispel several "myths" surrounding the issue.

Chief among those myths, he said Wednesday, is the impression that Plainridge is a tiny operation with little economic impact beyond its host town of Plainville.

"We're not some little economic bubble," he said, pointing to a map of Massachusetts detailing where dozens of vendors and horse farms that supply the track are based.

He said the track's operations spend $16 million a year with $9.8 million of that going to vendors and the rest to 72 horse farms that provide horses for the track's harness racing.

About 1,400 people derive at least part of their living from the track, including the 210 full and part-time employees of Plainridge, he said. Piontkowski's point to lawmakers will be that the track is an important economic engine that would be enhanced if the Legislature legalized slot machines at tracks.

Critics have stepped up their opposition to gambling, saying it causes addiction, ruins families and is a poor economic development program.

Alan Khazei, a candidate for U.S. Senate, called on Boston business leaders this week to oppose gambling, saying it preys on low-income residents and addicts.

"Over $1 million has been spent on lobbying for casinos in this state. Where are the citizens?" Khazei said. "We can stop this. If citizens in Massachusetts rise up and say, 'I don't want my state, the greatest state in the country, to fundamentally be changed.' That's what we need."

But Piontkowski said Massachusetts residents are already gambling in Connecticut casinos. He just wants to keep the money in Massachusetts.

To show how much money is leaving the state, he said there are 308 commercial bus trips to Connecticut casinos daily from Massachusetts locations, including 11 a day from Foxboro Plaza.

That figure does not include civic groups that charter buses to the casinos.

Slot machines at race tracks would bring in more revenue, which would result in larger purses for horse owners, which would lead to more activity at farms, and more tax revenue for the state, he said.

The Legislature is considering slot machines at tracks, making them so-called racinos. It is also studying legalized casinos and a combination of casinos and racinos.

Gambling has been considered for years on Beacon Hill, but this year for the first time the governor, speaker of the House and president of the Senate agree something should be done. Gov. Deval Patrick thus far has only favored casinos, saying they have a bigger economic impact that racinos because they become tourists destinations with restaurants, entertainment and hotels.

Piontkowski said the area around Plainville is already a destination because it includes major attractions such as Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place in Foxboro, the Comcast Center concert venue in Mansfield and the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets mall.

"Some of the biggest venues in New England are right here," he said.

The attraction of the area would be bolstered by gambling, he said.

Another issue he said he wants to address is the financial trouble the Twin River Casino in Rhode Island is having.

Critics of gambling often point to Twin River as evidence that gambling is a bad bet for the state.

But Piontkowski said revenue at Twin River has increased an average of 21 percent a year since 1994 and still takes in $397 million a year. It is the second largest source of revenue for the state government, he said.

The problem at Twin River, he said, is the owners borrowed $455 million to buy the facility and $255 million to expand it.

Its $77 million annual debt payment and 61 percent tax rate from the state are the problem, not its revenue, he said.

If slot machines for tracks are approved, Piontkowski said Plainridge would almost immediately install them in its existing facility. Two thousand machines at about $20,000 each would cost about $40 million.

Plans calls for the track to then have a pre-fabricated building constructed as a temporary site for the slots at a cost of another $10 million.

A $30 million addition to the current structure would eventually become the permanent gambling location, followed by a $35 million parking garage.

The pre-fabricated building would then become a concert hall if everything goes accord to plan, he said.

The entire project could create 1,000 construction jobs, he said.