Gulfstream Park, currently in the midst of a massive renovation project that already has dramatically altered the look of the facility, made a major bet on the addition of slots to its thoroughbred racing franchise. When the racino opened in November 2006, it marked the first time Class 3 slots had been offered in Florida.

But the racino, which was divided among two floors in the dramatic new clubhouse with 1,200 Las Vegas-style slot machines and a poker room, was far from an overnight success. Its revenue in 2007 on a per-machine basis was by far the lowest of the racinos that now operate in Broward County.

In late 2007, Magna Entertainment, the owner of Gulfstream along with a dozen other tracks around the country, announced that it was cutting back on the size of the casino.

It slashed hundreds of less popular slots in favor of more penny and 2-cent slots and a dozen new versions of video poker.

At the end of 2007, Gulfstream had about 570 slot machines in operation in its second-floor main casino (above right)..... Another 250 machines, mostly video-poker games, were put into operation in early 2008 in the revamped ground-floor casino area (shown at left). Casino hours were expanded in summer 2007, and the casino is now open around the clock on weekends.

''We're going to blow the socks off people in terms of video poker offerings,'' said Steve Calabro, Magma's vice president of gaming.

"Instead of having 1,200 games on the floor, we're going to have 850 of the best ones out there," Calabro said. " We're going for quality versus quantity.''

The site surrounding the racino, meanwhile, remains a major construction project, as shown in the photo above taken in November 2007.

Magma and a joint venture partner are hard at work on a complex of 70 stores and restaurants which are scheduled for completion in early 2009.