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CONCORD, N.H.–– Responding to a report by New Hampshire attorney
general Kelly Ayotte that a consortium called the New Hampshire Gaming
Association is unfit to hold a dog racing license, “The Lakes Region
Greyhound Park is actively seeking a buyer and upon finding one, may surrender
its racing license under a tentative deal with the attorney general’s
office even before the state Pari-Mutual Commission conducts hearings
on whether to revoke it,” Fosters Daily Democrat staff writer John
Koziol reported on March 29, 2005.
The Lakes Region Greyhound Park has reportedly lost money recently and
laid off staff.
Former Lakes Region Greyhound Park general manager Richard Hart and assistant
general manager Jonathan Broome were among 17 people indicted in January
2005 for allegedly running a five-state illegal betting ring based in
Concord, New Hampshire that handled $200 million in just four years. The
ring allegedly operated within an entity called the International Players
Association.
The money “was laundered through various off-site betting companies,
including Euro Off-Track on the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom,”
wrote Providence Journal State House Bureau reporter Scott Mayerowitz.
At least six members of the Hart family, some now suing each other, were
involved in running the Lakes Region Greyhound Park and International
Players Association. They bought the track in 1991, three years after
Richard Hart and his brother Kenneth were convicted of running an illegal
gambling ring in Massachusetts.
Indicted with Hart and Broome were three alleged associates of the Gambino
organized crime family. The International Players Association arrangements
purportedly allowed one alleged Gambino associate, Anthony Uvari, to collect
a tax refund of $156,794 in 2003 by claiming gambling losses that were
actually incurred by other bettors.
The scheme used live feeds of greyhound races from Lincoln Park in Rhode
Island, among other tracks. Told of the indictments on January 20, Lincoln
Park did not quit providing live feeds to the Lakes Region track and Euro
Off-Track until March 4, one day after Grey 2K USA president Carey Theil
asked the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation to order Lincoln
Park to stop.
