Torguson

The man who turned the Gulf Coast of Mississippi into a gold coast of casino gambling has teamed up with Moultonborough developer David Johnston in his effort to acquire and reopen Lakes Region Greyhound Park (LRGP). Rick Newman, spokesman for Johnston's group — Lakes Region Gaming, LLC — yesterday confirmed reports that Marlin Torguson, CEO of the Torguson Gaming Group headquartered in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, had joined the deal.

Neither Johnston nor Torguson could be reached for comment yesterday.

Johnston and a partner — Christopher Gistis, CEO of Linchris Hotel Corporation of Hanover, Massachusetts — submitted the high bid of $4.1-million when LRGP was auctioned under the supervision of the Belknap County Superior Court in April. However, in June, Gistis, along with a third partner, architect Larry Kasser of Saxton's River, Vermont, bailed out shortly after federal officials broke a major drug trafficking and money laundering ring that had allegedly operated from the track.

At that point, Newman said, Johnston went looking for other partners. Torguson had also bid for the track in partnership with Kenneth Hart of Concord, a nephew of Al Hart, the general partner of the New Hampshire Gaming Association (NHGA), which owned and operated the track. Torguson and Hart's bid was $4-million, $100,000 shy of Johnston's winning offer.

Moreover, before the bidding New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte advised the Hart family — Joan Hart, Al's sister-in-law, her three sons, Kenneth, Richard and Robert and their wives — that she deemed them unfit to hold a racing license in the state and that they would not be welcome bidders. In January, Richard Hart, then general manager of LRGP, and his assistant, Jonathan Broome, were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for their part in an illegal gambling conspiracy, sparking the chain of events that led to the closure and sale of the track.

According to a source familiar with LRGP who asked not to be named, Torguson's relationship with the Harts began soon after NHGA acquired the track in the early 1990s when they discussed a joint venture in the event the New Hampshire legislature permitted the racetracks to offer slot machines or video gambling. Apart from acknowledging that Torguson joined his bid for the track, Kenneth Hart yesterday declined to comment on their relationship. However, Newman, who said he planned to meet with Torguson next week, insisted that no members of the Hart family are party to the partnership between Johnston and Torguson.

Torguson got his start in the gambling business in his native Minnesota where, after getting wind of the big profits reaped by Indian bingo halls, he bought into one at Jackpot Junction in 1983. For five years he struggled, scraping by on liquor sales and garbage collection, until with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 100 slot machines began churning out $500,000 in revenue a month. Three years later Torguson left Jackpot Junction for Goldiggers, a limited stakes casino in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Meanwhile, in 1990, as Mississippi was about to legalized casino gambling, Torguson purchased land near on the Bay of St. Louis on the Gulf Coast from Pete Fountain, the New Orleans jazzman. His Casino Magic Bay St. Louis was the first gambling barge on the coast. Soon Torguson was buying property wherever he suspected casino gambling would become legal. Torguson's company, Casino Magic Corporation, opened casinos in Louisiana as well as in Greece and Argentina.

In 1998, Hollywood Park, Inc., owners of the famed California thoroughbred track along with three casinos, acquired Casino Magic in a deal worth $340-million. Torguson remained with the company, which later became Pinnacle Entertainment, until 2000 when it was acquired by Harveys Casino Resorts in an even richer deal of $1.3-billion.

While serving a "no compete" spell, Torguson then acquired property in Biloxi. Earlier this year the Torguson Gaming Group, a privately held company, broke ground at Bacaran Bay, a 200-suite hotel and casino, the Villas, 387 condominium units (priced from $350,900 to $893,900) and an 18-hole golf course. The project, representing an investment of $500-million, includes two wedding chapels, a bowling alley, six restaurants, a health spa, buffet, shopping arcade, nightclub, convention center and six theaters.

What attracted Torguson, who has been called "perhaps the gaming industry's greatest visionary," to LRGP is not at all clear. But, if past is prologue, where he goes, money grows.

However, the prospects that the New Hampshire legislature will authorize video gambling appear remote. Legislation introduced in both the House and Senate during the session just ended failed to reach the floor for a vote. Expanded gambling has constantly met strong resistance from the law enforcement community, including all past attorneys general. Furthermore, those who support video gambling are divided over how it should be organized, with many opposed to granting exclusive franchises to the four racetracks — Rockingham Park, Yankee Greyhound at Seabrook, Hinsdale Greyhound Park and Lakes Region Greyhound Park.

Meanwhile, the tracks, faced with mounting competition for the gambling dollar, are struggling to make ends meet. While the rest of the gambling industry grows year after year, pari-mutuel wagering continues to shrink. This week Yankee Greyhound announced that it was reducing its live racing program in an effort to reduce operating costs. Hinsdale Greyhound Park has also shortened its live racing schedule in recent years. Simulcast wagering on thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races run at tracks around the country generates the lion's share of revenue at all four tracks, but state law requires tracks to schedule 100 calendar days of live racing in order to offer simulcast wagering.