Rosecroft Raceway is set to reopen Aug. 1, provided its new owner funds operating losses through 2012.

The Fort Washington harness track has remained shuttered since July 2010 and hasn’t held a live race since July 2008.

The Maryland Racing Commission on July 6 voted 7-1 Wednesday to approve Penn National Gaming’s license for the track through its subsidiary Prince George’s Racing Venture, headed by Thomas Auriemma, vice president and chief compliance officer for Penn National. Besides requiring Penn to run 20 live race days in October and 54 in 2012, the commission also wants Penn to cover any operating losses this year and next.

But one commissioner worried that the conditions could mean the end of Prince George’s racing, should Penn reject them.

“For a company to guarantee to fund losses, I believe they will reject that,” Ernest Grecco said. “I’m hoping I’m wrong. Otherwise, this means horse racing is done in Prince George’s and Rosecroft.”

Penn National officials are considering the conditions and its options, said spokeswoman Karen Bailey.

The commission ruled after deliberating for an hour following a four-hour hearing, in which the commission questioned the Wyomissing, Pa., gambling company’s commitment to support the track.

Penn purchased the track for $11 million through a bankruptcy auction in February and has poured $500,000 into various improvements at the facility, with $1 million more planned, according to the company.

The company projected $2.3 million in operating losses through 2013, said Craig Gegorek, a certified public account hired by the commission to vet the application.

But Steven Snyder, vice president of corporate development for Penn, said, “We do not expect to operate at a loss.” At the start of the hearing, Snyder said Penn would not guarantee to cover losses without a successful resolution of its simulcast issue.

Rosecroft has been involved in a dispute with Maryland’s thoroughbred horsemen over the simulcast signal since 2009. The legislature this year passed a bill that included a requirement for all involved parties to enter into mediation this month, with a provision for arbitration should the issue not be resolved by Oct. 1. To negotiate in compliance with that law, Penn recently sold back its interest in the Maryland Jockey Club’s thoroughbred assets to Frank Stronach. The simulcast issue must be resolved for Rosecroft to be eligible for $1.2 million in slots revenues for track operating costs in 2012.

Penn has not decided whether it will apply for the $1.2 million, Snyder said.

While Snyder anticipates a favorable result from the mediation, commissioners were less optimistic.

“You guys have a track record,” Grecco said, asking how Penn would convince those in the racing industry that it would not “cut and run” as it did when it could not get slots for Laurel Park.

Penn hopes to fight in the upcoming session for slots at Rosecroft, but it will review the situation after 2012, Snyder said. He said the racing purses, supported by revenues from existing state slots parlors, might be large enough to ensure a profitable operation or other opportunities could arise.

Slots revenues could fund $4 million in purses, or $75,000 per day, by 2013, said Michael Hopkins, executive director of the racing commission.

Penn National has signed purse agreements with harness breeders and owners through 2023, with an option to back out should Rosecroft prove unprofitable by the end of 2012, Snyder said.

“We’re not in a position to give guarantees. We would like the chance to learn and see how it goes,” he said.

He later offered to have Penn provide a $1 million letter of credit to fund losses through the end of the year.

Numerous Rosecroft supporters turned out at the hearing.

“It was a great place, like a family to us,” said Clarissa Coughlin of Lothian, whose mother had horses that raced at the track. The family has been taking their horses to Centerville, Pa., since Rosecroft closed.

Clyde Oglesby of Indian Head, who has raced horses at Rosecroft since it opened, said the track could still be a money-maker place if the “right people” operate it.

“Let’s give it a chance. Where we will be tomorrow? Better than where we are today,” said Thomas B. Cooke, president of the standardbred owners association.

lrobbins@gazette.net