Though he does not come to the Rockingham Park racetrack regularly, Dennis Hansbury doesn’t think the prospect of casinos across the border will lure him away in the future.

A Massachusetts resident, Hansbury – who spent a Friday evening watching simulcast horse racing in the racetrack’s Sports Club – believes that if legislators in Boston allow for expanded gambling in the Commonwealth it will take away some of the business from the racetrack.

“It would (have an impact),” he said, adding that the casinos in Connecticut would probably also lose half of their business.

With lawmakers in Massachusetts getting set to debate a bill in both the House and Senate in the fall to expand gambling, advocates of expanded gambling in New Hampshire hope the competition will provide the motivation to allow 15,000 video slot machines in facilities across the Granite State, including Rockingham Park.

Though the New Hampshire Senate bill was tabled last month, Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said the effort to expand gambling in New Hampshire is not yet dead. Both the economic downturn and the push around New England to expand gambling have become major assets, he said, but being first in the market has its advantages, and he stressed the importance of beating Massachusetts out of the gate.

Richard Killion, a spokesman for an expanded gambling advocacy group, Fix It Now, and Millennium Gaming, which holds an option to buy Rockingham Park, said even if Massachusetts were to pass expanded gambling legislation before New Hampshire does, video slots at the racetrack would bring in over $200 million in revenue.

Were lawmakers to approve expanded gambling in New Hampshire, Millennium Gaming plans to build a $450 million permanent facility at Rockingham Park and have a temporary facility up and running within seven months, according to Killion.

“Rockingham Park is uniquely positioned on the Massachusetts border. Up to 70 percent of the visits would come from Massachusetts. We know we can compete with anybody, even if they have expanded gambling in Massachusetts,” Killion said. “Let there be no doubt – which is why New Hampshire should seriously look at this now – there are significant benefits to be the first in the marketplace. The first is being the first to position yourself by really marketing yourself and developing a customer base.”

According to Killion, Millennium Gaming did two studies on the potential revenue from a permanent facility at Rockingham Park. Without competition from expanded gambling across the border, Millennium expects to draw in roughly $418.2 million.

The second study – based on the three casino model lawmakers in Massachusetts pursued in 2007 – estimated the racetrack would earn about $286.9 million.

The Meadows, a Millennium owned racetrack and casino in southwestern Pennsylvania, which advocates cite as a model for the future of the Salem racetrack, has thrived despite its location only a half an hour away from casinos in West Virginia, Killion said.

“Competition is not something to shy away from. There would be an impact (from expanded gambling in Massachusetts), but that impact is further mitigated by being first in the marketplace,” he said.

With about 80 percent of his clientele already making the trip from Massachusetts, Rockingham Park’s General Manager Ed Callahan believes expanded gambling in that state could have an effect on business, but said that any impact would depend on where the casinos set up shop and whether or not video slots had already come to the racetrack.

Not everyone believes that the promise of casinos in Massachusetts will lure away patrons from Rockingham Park.

William Armstrong, a Derry resident and native of Kentucky and having grown up near Churchill Downs, has been coming to the racetrack for 28 years and does not see expanded gambling across the border as a threat to the racetrack.

Still, he does not understand why legislators have not given expanded gambling the green light.

“People are going to gamble whether they go to Foxwoods, come here or go to their buddy’s house for poker. It doesn’t make a difference,” Armstrong said. “We’re all going to hell anyway. Why not go out cheaply?”