PROVIDENCE — The state Senate has approved legislation to force the owners of the Twin River greyhound track and slot parlor to continue live dog-racing as a condition for remaining open all night on weekends and holidays.

The 31-to-1 vote on Thursday sparked applause from Twin River employees in the gallery, and this statement from a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association: “The Senate has recognized the value of greyhound racing to the state and voted to preserve 225 well-paying jobs. We commend them for their commitment to keeping Rhode Islanders working.”

But as the vote neared, a Twin River spokeswoman called the suspension of dog-racing an “important component of our ability to restructure our balance sheet [by] eliminating the roughly $10-million annual subsidy we incur on behalf of the RIGOA.” She said the legislation “clearly makes it more difficult” for Twin River to dig itself out of its financial hole.

Lawmakers readily acceded to the request by Newport Grand to be freed from having to operate jai alai, in order to remain open as a video-slot parlor. But the bid by Twin River’s owners to cut short their racing season on Aug. 8 to stem their losses on a losing end of their business ran into a wall of opposition from organized labor and a team of $5,000-a-month lobbyists for the greyhound owners association, including former Warwick Mayor Joseph Walsh.

They convinced key senators, including Sen. Frank Ciccone, who doubles as the field agent for the Rhode Island Laborers District Council, that the suspension of dog-racing would cost the state jobs and revenue.

For example, the dog owners projected $7.5 million in state revenue losses based, in large part, on their assumption that video-slot revenue would drop by more than $5.5 million annually if gamblers were not drawn to the former Lincoln Park to see the dog races. They also projected $337,500 in lost income taxes from the 225 kennel workers, judges, parimutuel clerks, concessionaires and security staff they say are in danger of losing their jobs.

But Twin River has disputed their projections, and said no more than 40 jobs are in jeopardy. They offered to pay the dog owners a total of $2 million a year for three years to buy out the remainder of their $9 million-a-year contract; the dog owners rejected the offer.

A report produced for the Carcieri administration in 2004 said dog racing had little to no impact on the state’s take from the 4,751 video-slots that are a big cash-maker at Twin River. The state more recently made public the names and home addresses of the 253 dog-owners: only three dozen have Rhode Island addresses. Others live in such places as Fall River; Sarasota, Fla., Wichita, Kan.; Waco, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; Dublin, Ireland, and the Bahamas.

The owners association says that the Rhode Island dog owners “own approximately 600, or half, of the dogs.”

The bill now moves to the House where Speaker William J. Murphy said: “I think it’s been a tradition. I don’t like losing traditions. But at the same time is has to be feasible for the business.” The gambling venue, with 12 greyhound kennels, an estimated 1,200 dogs and 4,751 video slots, is owned by a subsidiary of BLB Investors, comprising Kerzner International Limited, Starwood Capital Group and Waterford Group LLC.

kgregg@projo.com