[dhumalenaresh]

Thousands of video slot machines demand the attention of passers-by with flashing screens and digitized dinging. Sails cling to pillars surrounding a lighthouse that towers over the room, and a video of the rapper 50 Cent plays on a giant projection screen. It's cold, it's rainy and it's a Thursday, but the place seems about half full, and there's a long line for valet parking.
The recently opened expansion is a far cry from the casino's origins as the old Lincoln Park, the name it gave up this past March. With its chandeliers, balconies and stylized clouds and seagulls hanging from a high ceiling, it more closely resembles a room at Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun.
Management says Twin River fills a niche in the world of New England gambling. It exists mainly to attract local gamblers from Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts who only want to make a short trip instead of driving hours to Connecticut. The casino is what experts call "convenience gambling," not "destination gambling."
The casino (or "racino," thanks to its greyhound racing track) certainly has grown. Its ongoing $220 million expansion plan has added 160,000 square feet to the facility and made it, at a total of 500,000 square feet, one of the four largest gambling facilities in the United States, according to UMass Dartmouth research.
Despite the expansion, Twin River officials say they want to stay in the local gambling business — they just want to expand the definition of "local."
"We're actually location-driven," said Cynthia R. Stern, vice president for public relations. "Our current demographic is within a 15-mile radius. We're trying to expand it a few miles and bring our demographic age down."
Clyde Barrow, a professor at the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis who studies the gambling industry, said Twin River's local focus, its lack of a hotel and other amenities and Rhode Island's ban on table games such as blackjack, poker and roulette mean that the casino isn't competing with Foxwoods or Mohegan.
He said Twin River taps into a different sort of customer than the Connecticut casinos, one who is "not as affluent, not as educated and slightly more male."
Additionally, if SouthCoast ever gets a casino, Twin River probably would not compete with that, either, Dr. Barrow said.
"Their public statements have been that they want to remain a convenience facility, but they also want to upgrade," he said. "The people who want that destination gambling experience would not be going there."

[ncat12]

very nice write-up...I live in Maryland...and if I read you correct , what you are saying compares with Delaware which is hourse racing , parlay cards and video poker/ slots...compare to Atlantic City which is another 90-120 more min. away and where you find all of that and table games..oh xcept for the parlay cards I believe that is just Delaware

[Fishhead]

My casino

[DOMINATER]

I PLAY THEIR a few e x pats have steak house , Ifind the casino extremely tight ,Foxwoods much better.Operated by the state which needs money badly.

[BrianLaverty]

I live approx. 5 minutes from the casino and have never been there..

I used to go when it was lincoln park occasionally when i was younger, but slots do absolutely nothing for me...I really wish Rhode Island would just go through with it and legalize table games..... it would save me some time going all the way to foxwoods