PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Twin River Casino has won state lottery approval to increase the number of live table games at the one-time greyhound racetrack that morphed in June from a sprawling electronic slot-parlor into full blow casino.
A spokeswoman confirmed Monday that the Lincoln casino was granted permission by state Lottery Director Gerald Aubin to up the number of Las Vegas-style betting games -- such as blackjack and roulette, from 66 to 80. The permission was granted on Friday.
In an email advising lawmakers of the decision, the state's director of revenue,
Rosemary Booth Gallogly, said: "This proposal can be accomplished with the existing footprint of the building without reducing the number of VLTs. Presently there are 4,538 VLT's in facility.''
VLT is the acronym for the 4,538 electronic gambling machines -- also known as Video Lottery Terminals -- placed at Twin River by the state Lottery, under terms where the state kept roughly 61 cents every dollar a gambler left behind. The state's percentage share of the table game action is a third of that.
Through July, the new games resulted in a gain for the state. In July, the state reaped $24,891,666 from the VLTs and $1,078,879 from the table games, compared to $24,722,239 from the VLTs alone in July 2012, according to the Lottery.
"There will be approximately 100 low-performing VLTs taken offline during the construction period. Construction in the Table Game area and in the High Roller room will be done simultaneously, with an estimated completion date around Thanksgiving. At that time, 100 high-denomination VLTs will be added to the High Roller room.''
"Twin River and the Lottery are confident that the displacement of those 100 low-performing will have no impact on [net terminal income],'' she wrote.
And "since it will not result in fewer VLTs over the long term, and serves to satisfy a demand presented by these new gaming patrons, I support the request as a defensive measure against competition,'' she told the lawmakers.
A number of questions have yet to be answered by Twin River and the state Lottery, including a breakdown of the kind of games that Twin River intends to install, and the impact, if any, on the casino's staffing needs.
But in response to a Journal inquiry, Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle said: "We received approval on Friday to increase the number of table games from 66 to 80. The request was borne out if the fact that the table games have exceeded our expectations in many respects.
"Twin River chairman John E. Taylor, Jr. has said in the past that the market would largely dictate any expansion plans and that was certainly the case here,'' Doyle said. "Twin River is planning to announce later this week the plan and timetable for bringing on line the additional games.''
She said the request was made to the Lottery on Aug. 19. Aubin was not immediately available for comment.