On Day Two, 4,305 turned out.

On Day Three: 1,193.

And yet John Brunetti, Hialeah Park's owner, professes not to be too concerned. Racing, he says, is a "means to an end," a way to win permission to open a casino, a privilege doled out by the state to struggling pari-mutuels. The majestic Hialeah Park is following a path beaten by other South Florida tracks and frontons, businesses that have withered under competitive pressure from Indian-run gaming resorts, Internet poker and the Florida Lottery.

Can Vegas-style slots turn around the sinking fortunes of South Florida's pari-mutuels? Various frontons and tracks are betting that it will. The latest is Calder Race Course, which is rushing to open an $85 million slots casino in time for the Super Bowl, taking place at adjacent Land Shark Stadium on February 7.

gambling palaces

But the results so far at establishments a step or two ahead of Hialeah and Calder are mixed, calling into question that old adage about casinos: 'The house always wins.'

Some of the pari-mutuel outfits' plans to build grand gambling palaces have already been scaled back.

The November 10 ribbon-cutting of Flagler Dog Track's new Magic City Casino brought Miami's movers and shakers to the decades-old gambling establishment, giving it a buzz not seen since the days when the Rat Pack - Frank, Deano, Sammy et al. - visited the track.

"Five-hundred new jobs, and no public funds!" new Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado proclaimed to a cheering crowd.

Although the new slots are still drawing gamblers, the euphoria has subsided. Revenue per machine has fallen by half since the facility's unofficial opening in October.

"Everything is going to open with a flash," said Marc Dunbar, a gambling expert who teaches pari-mutuel law at Florida State, "but then quickly be pulled to the reality of the marketplace."

The marketplace is challenging, even for a business that has been compared to owning a printing press that spits out dollar bills.

With pari-mutuels/casinos operating in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the Seminole Tribe running one of those most successful casino operations in the nation on their Hollywood reservation, competition for the gambling dollar is fiercer than ever.

"They've got the entertainment component over at (Seminole) Hard Rock, where this doesn't have it," said Adrian Salgado, 33, who was unwinding while sipping a cocktail at Magic City on Friday night.

What Flagler does have to offer is in-your-neighbourhood convenience.

And dogs.

The greyhound-racing operation, which must continue to justify the gambling license, limps along in front of sparse crowds. Management said they don't collect race attendance figures, but that more grandstand seats are being filled now that slots have arrived.

A window inside the air-conditioned casino offers a railbird's view, and some patrons take in the races there.

promotions

The track has added various promotions designed to lure slots players into placing a greyhound bet or two.

Those promotions include Thursday nights' Doggie Dinner Theater, which offers giveaways, food specials and dancing waitresses. Tuesday afternoons bring Doggie Bingo, where patrons, using a free bingo card, connect the results of the day's races in hopes of scoring a prize.

Whether bringing in slots players can lift the fortunes of a race track and its attendant workforce is dicey. At Pompano Park, horsemen raised $100,000 to help get "racinos" approved by the voters in 2004, then claimed that the harness track reneged on a promise to increase meagre purses.

"We got pimped," said trainer/driver Michael Deters.

No similar protests have surfaced at Magic City. The overall operation is profitable, said vice president Isadore Havenick.

"I don't want to say very profitable," he said. "But we're not losing money here."

And yet, Magic City has postponed indefinitely its planned $90 million second phase - which included an amphitheatre, nightclub and multiple restaurants. For now, the casino will instead pursue a smaller expansion that will simply add another 150 to 200 new slot machines.

high tax rate

Havenick cited the state's high tax rate on slots - 50 cents on every dollar made - as the key reason in delaying the second phase.

Florida lawmakers attempted to chop that rate down to 35 per cent earlier this year, but that bill stalled after the Legislature, the governor and the Seminole Tribe failed to come to a three-way agreement on an Indian gaming compact.

That stalemate, in turn, threatens Hialeah Park's large-scale redeve-lopment plans. Hialeah's future survival as a racing venue, Brunetti said, hinges on the Legislature allowing slots and thoroughbred racing - as opposed to the current quarter-horse sprint-style races - at the track.

Using slot revenues, Brunetti wants to create a 'new' Hialeah Park that would boast a two-story slots casino, a hotel and non-gambling entertainment options such as a movie theater or bowling alley.

The project would be phased in over seven to 10 years, he said, with a cost approaching US$1 billion.

"This is like building the Hoover Dam during the Depression," Brunetti said.

And indeed, at a time when construction throughout South Florida remains at a standstill, casinos are one of the few things being built.

"You think about the economy over this past year. Nobody was building anything," said Calder spokeswoman Michele Blanco.