Days before a ban from the state’s largest gambling venue was set to go into effect, the company that runs the popular Poker Room at the Rockingham Park racetrack filed for bankruptcy.

Attorney Joshua Menard said he filed Granite State Poker into bankruptcy at about 5:26 p.m. on Friday, July 24, in a plan to keep the company operating games of chance at the racetrack, despite attempts from Rockingham Park to ban the company from the premises after midnight on Sunday, July 26. Owner Dan Brown had filed for an injunction in the Rockingham County Superior Court against being shut out of the racetrack after receiving a June 22 letter from attorneys representing the park’s general manager, Edward Callahan, notifying Brown of the ban.

On Friday, July 24, a hearing was scheduled for August, but that would have been too late to save the company from being forced out of the racetrack, according to Menard.

“We did this to ensure that the 130 employees continue to have their jobs next week and obviously to ensure that the current operation stays operating,” he said.

According to Menard, bankruptcy will “stay the issue,” preventing any attempts to remove Granite State Poker – which has run the Poker Room since 2006 – from the racetrack.

The move to ban Granite State Poker has sparked a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed in Rockingham County Superior Court which accuses Rockingham Park of trying to steal customers and trained employees away from the gaming company. Brown said Callahan formed a limited-liability corporation earlier this year in an attempt to take over the gaming operation at the racetrack.

According to Brown, the pair had a verbal agreement in place before the Poker Room opened stipulating that Granite State Poker would manage the gaming operations, equipment and supplies while Rockingham Park would provide security, facility licenses and locate charitable organizations to sponsor the games of chance. Brown has said he also agreed to a $2,000 nightly “rent” before the gaming operation got underway and later complied with an additional demand that he turn over half of all of Granite State Poker’s monthly profits.

In the June 22 letter, Callahan’s attorneys accuse Brown of failing to turn over both the nightly “rent” or 50 percent of Granite State Poker’s monthly profits to the park, among other charges.

Callahan could not be reached for comment yesterday. Brown is optimistic that the move could help reconcile his relationship with Callahan and Rockingham Park.

“It’s a situation that in the past has helped partners resolve any issues,” he said. “If we can resolve this we’d like to do it.”