Owners of the Twin River greyhound track and slot parlor decided on Wednesday to suspend live racing on Aug. 8 — instead of May 31 — to remove any doubt they have met the minimum number of races required by the state.

Rhode Island law requires the Lincoln gambling facility to operate at least 125 live racing days each year as a condition for offering the video-slot gambling that brings in most of the revenue.

In a letter to the Department of Business Regulation on Tuesday, Twin River vice president and general counsel Craig L. Eaton wrote: “This correspondence is to inform the DBR of the indefinite suspension of racing dates for the balance of 2009 as of May [when] Twin River will have run its legally-mandated (125) racing dates for year 2009.”

But a dispute arose Wednesday over the number of racing days versus race performances held so far, with the DBR questioning whether Twin River was, in fact, within three weeks of meeting its annual requirement.

To satisfy the DBR’s concerns, Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle said the owners decided to continue the live racing through the first week in August. She said Twin River is undecided on whether to maintain the current Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday racing schedule.

—Katherine Gregg, Journal State House bureau