KANSAS CITY, KAN. — The general manager and assistant general manager of The Woodlands are no longer working at the track, but little information is being released about the personnel changes.
General manager August Masciotra was placed on administrative leave, and assistant general manager Allan Meyers resigned recently. Neither action was publicly announced or explained.
Tracy Diel, acting executive director of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, said Wednesday that he had little information about the administrative moves.
"I've had no information from the track to explain it," he said.
Masciotra declined comment Wednesday; Meyers could not be reached.
Bill Grace, principal owner of The Woodlands, did not return a call from The Associated Press Wednesday.
He told The Kansas City Star on Tuesday that all he could say was "there's some personnel evaluations going on."
The Kansas City, Kan., dog- and horse-racing track was temporarily under the direction of Larry Seckington, the corporate secretary for Kansas Racing LLC, which owns the track.
Masciotra is a former state racing commission regulator in Nevada and Colorado. He had been an executive with the company that developed the casino card game Caribbean Stud. He joined the track as general manager in 1999, but he left after about eight months to become president of the Internet gambling division of I2corp.com. He returned to The Woodlands in May 2000.
Meyers is a former Kansas City, Kan., police chief who stepped down to become The Woodlands' security director when the track opened in 1989.
The personnel problems come as the Kansas Legislature convenes next week. Lawmakers are expected to once again consider the pari-mutuel racing industry's request for slot machines.
Rep. Ray Cox, R-Bonner Springs, said Tuesday that he planned to introduce a bill that could bring support from western Kansas lawmakers by giving each county's voters the option to allow a limited number of slots at fraternal and veterans group lodges.
Grace told the newspaper that he and racing interests in Wichita would back a measure similar to the bill they pushed unsuccessfully last year that would allow the track around 70 percent of the gambling proceeds. Cox's proposal would give tracks about 61 percent.
But Grace said: "We are not going to go for 61 percent. We will close (the track) down first."
Noting the state's budget problems this year, Grace said the 2002 session may be the Woodlands' last chance to get gambling.
"Honestly, if it doesn't go this year, I don't know why you would keep on," he said.
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