"I think it might be OK if they have them," said Darlene Purvis of Middletown, Pa., who was vacationing with her husband, stepson and daughter. She said a casino wouldn't lure her tourist dollars away after three decades of coming to this beach. "We're not gamblers, and we have kids, so we would come to the shore regardless of a casino."
Cynthia Paul, a retiree from Pasadena relaxing on a boardwalk bench, said she might sample the slots during her annual week in Ocean City, but she didn't think gambling would hurt the water-oriented economy: "People might go for a day, but they're not going to stop coming to the beach. I don't think it will hurt Ocean City."
There were more misgivings about slots among visitors to Ocean Downs than at the ocean itself.
Despite a gray sky that threatened rain, hundreds of people flocked to the racetrack Thursday for $1 beers, $2 bets and a low-key atmosphere that simultaneously recalled ancient Roman chariot races and a rural state fair. The crowd included young families, retirees and groups of men in their 20s sharpening their wagering skills.
Belying a trend of declining attendance at horse races across the country, Ocean Downs averages 1,800 fans a night during racing days, putting it in the top 10 percent of harness tracks in the country, track officials said.
Tom Cernik, a Baltimore City police officer from Perry Hall, has been bringing his family to the harness races for years during their weeklong vacation here. He worries that slots could derail the mellow, family-friendly vibe of the track.
"The whole atmosphere of this racetrack could change," Cernik said, gesturing to the hundreds of people, young and old, enjoying a balmy evening as the sulkies swept by on the stone-dust track. "I think it'll bring a lower class of ... people playing their last quarters. When families see that, they're not going to come out here."
His daughter, Kelly Cernik, a recent Salisbury University graduate, said she appreciates the minor-league-baseball feeling of Ocean Downs as it is: "This is exactly like a Shore Birds game. I don't think slots would fit here. I kind of like the crowd as it is."
But given the choice between slots and higher taxes - a threat dangled by slots activists - her father didn't hesitate. "Then I'll vote for slots," Tom Cernik said.
Donna Tingle, 63, a Bishopville resident who works the reservation desk at an Ocean City motel, said she welcomed the prospect of slots at the track: "It'll bring more money around here, and people will have to pay better wages."
And would she play the machines? "Oh, yeah," Tingle said, laughing. "They're addictive. ... If they had them in the grocery store, I'd play them."
gadi.dechter@baltsun.com
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