Players split on staying at Charles Town

CHARLES TOWN, W. Va (Map, News) - Some will stay in Maryland. Some will keep making the trip. Charles Town slot players hailing from Maryland were divided on whether or not they'd keep coming to the track, about 70 miles from Baltimore.

Carney residents John Bartenfelter and his wife Jeanne played the slots at Charles Town on Thursday, making a trip to the area to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

“We’ll play the slots — but we’ll stay in Maryland,” John Bartenfelter said.

Annapolis resident Steve Wise said he was, and is still, a fan of Rosecroft Raceway and Laurel horse racing but didn't believe there was much crossover between slots players and horse players. He said he's been traveling to Charles Town more frequently.

“It would be nice to see the crowds back [at Maryland tracks],” he said. “Hopefully slots would do that, but I don't know if that's necessarily the entire answer. People who play the slots come to play the slots. And if you're here for the horses, that's what you're going to bet on. Now, a lot of times, I just come to Charles Town.”

Glen Burnie resident Lee Blades had a simple answer and reason for whether he'd play slots in Maryland.

“I wouldn't,” Blades said. “I wouldn't be playing slots anywhere you can't smoke.”

Blades said he won a BMW in a giveaway at Dover Downs but felt so strongly about the smoking issue that when that facility banned smoking, he didn't come back. And at any venue, he said slots were the draw for him, not horse racing.

“I'm not a real big horse racer,” he said. “I'll play the long shot, $10 sometimes.”

Charles Town has its fans, however. Lois Snively, a resident of the Waynesboro, Pa., area, said she has been coming to Charles Town since the 1970s and would keep coming even if Maryland puts in slot machines.

“I'm sure it's going to affect them,” she said. “[But] Charles Town has a loyal following. They'll keep coming.”

acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com

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