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Expert: Hastings Track Slots Come with a Social Price

VANCOUVER - Slot machines can probably save the Hastings race track, an Alberta gambling expert says. But there is a price to pay.

"Race tracks in Alberta and Ontario -- notably Woodbine in Toronto -- and many more in the U.S. have installed slots when betting on the horses doesn't produce enough revenue to sustain racing.

"`The revenue from the slots goes back into the horse-racing industry for bigger purses and so forth,' said University of Alberta professor Garry Smith, a gambling research specialist. `That does help the racing industry.'

"But, Smith said in an interview this week, slot machines provide a highly addictive form of gambling, `so it's going to create some social problems.'

"…It boils down to a fairly simple choice, Smith said. How badly do we want to save horse-racing? `If you decide it is worth saving, slots will help it. But they will create other problems at the same time.'"

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