Providence Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Twin River Board Chairman John Taylor addresses questions from locals about the bond issue at Shanna's Country Kitchen, a popular breakfast spot in Lincoln, near Twin River, last week.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In 1994, Rhode Island voters said a resounding no to casino gambling at the Lincoln Park greyhound racetrack. The vote: 232,493 to 90,658.
But that was 18 years and a lifetime ago in the history of gambling in Rhode Island, and in the region.
The greyhounds are long gone. Nearly seven acres of electronic gambling machines with names such as "Wheel of Gold," "Stinkin' Rich" and "Lucky Larry's Lobstermania" have taken their place, more than 4,750 of them that now raise upward of $300 million a year for the state treasury.
And Sandra Mitchell, a retired fourth-grade teacher who lives three minutes from the reincarnated track now known as Twin River -- and works there one night a week -- was among the townsfolk who stood in front of a microphone at a recent hearing on the renewed casino drive to ask: why not?
"There's always been gambling there," she said of the sprawling video-slot parlor in Lincoln, which is already open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and already advertises itself as the "Twin River Casino."
"Personally, I can't see the difference between gambling on dogs or horses or tables or slots," she said. "I can't see a huge problem."
Not everyone agrees. "It's money coming in, but it's also money coming out of people's pockets who probably can't afford it," said the Rev. Eugene McKenna, the semiretired Catholic priest leading the opposition, at another recent hearing.