Eight years ago, Surrey began to buzz with rumours a casino – and slot machines – might be coming to the city.

Surrey Coun. Bob Bose let the cat out of the bag back in October 2002 when he leaked to the Now details about a secret council meeting held earlier that month to talk about a casino on the city-owned Cloverdale fairgrounds.

When Bose ignored the province’s request for secrecy and spilled the beans, he launched the controversy that still hounds Fraser Downs and its slot machines.

The latest wrinkle in this saga is last week’s revelation that the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which bought Fraser Downs in March 2005, has decided to dramatically cut the number of race days at the track in order to save money.

The horse racing industry has been losing ground to casinos and online gambling for years. Fewer and fewer people are coming to the track and revenues are down. Way down.

The push for slots at Fraser Downs, however, was pitched as a way to save racing by using some of the revenue they generated to increase race purses. Richer purses, the argument went, would bring better horses and drivers to Surrey and that would bring more fans – and more gamblers – to the track.

It hasn’t worked out that way.

The track belonged to Orangeville Raceway back then, a company owned by the Keeling family. Chuck Keeling was Fraser Downs’ general manager and the pitchman tasked with whipping up support for the casino.

He did his job well. Keeling got a lot of backing for his bid. Politicians, including some who not many years earlier were slamming those devil slots in rhetoric reminiscent of The Music Man, got on board.

Business joined the parade, especially the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce, led by former Socred cabinet minister Bill Reid.

Before long, the lobby for slots in Fraser Downs was a force to be reckoned with.

Once the province dumped its ban on slots at racetracks in 2003, negotiations among provincial lottery officials, city hall and Fraser Downs really got going. In May 2003, city council approved the casino.

Nearly a year later, the city and Fraser Downs signed a long-term lease agreement that cut Surrey in for a share of the take, estimated at between $3 million and $5 million a year.

With all the regulatory pieces in place, Orangeville went to work on a $25-million facelift of the old clubhouse to accommodate the casino and on Nov. 3, 2004, the doors opened.

Forty-nine days later, it was announced that Fraser Downs – and its 420 slots – had been sold to the Great Canadian Casino Company for $40 million.

The promise of a racing industry rejuvenated by a transfusion of slot machine cash was never realized. Attendance and wagers on the pacers continues to fall even today.

Great Canadian and the B.C. Standardbred Association signed a four-year deal in 2007 that extended the season by two months. It was supposed to bring stability to the game and draw more punters. That hasn’t happened.

The future of horse racing at Fraser Downs is more uncertain now than ever before. The slots haven’t turned back time.

• This is one in a series of related stories you can find in our online edition about this issue.