LINCOLN – Twin River has informed the state it will end greyhound racing for the rest of the year on Aug. 8 as it prepares for a possible bankruptcy filing, a spokeswoman told Providence Business News today.

State law requires the slot parlor and track to hold 125 dog races each year. Craig Eaton, Twin River’s senior vice president and general counsel, told state officials that Twin River believed it would have fulfilled that commitment on May 31, The Associated Press reported, adding that about 40 workers will lose their jobs.

However, state officials disagreed with Twin River’s interpretation of the law. After meeting this morning with officials in the R.I. Department of Business Regulation, Twin River agreed not to suspend dog racing until Aug. 8.

“While we differ in our interpretation of what the 125 days meant in our clause, we decided that, in an abundance of caution, we would comply with the DBR’s interpretation,” Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle told PBN.

In an interview this morning on WPRO-AM, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said he was not opposed to Twin River’s decision to end greyhound racing, adding that he was surprised it had not happened sooner considering the races’ poor returns.

Twin River has been teetering on the edge of insolvency since at least March 2008, when contractors filed liens on the property after failing to get paid for their work. However, Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle told AP that a bankruptcy was not definite yet.

Twin River is owned by BLB Investors LLC, a Connecticut-based company that is a joint venture of Kerzner International, Starwood Capital Group and the Waterford Group. The company paid $445 million to acquire the aging Lincoln Park in 2005, and then spent $225 million on renovations that were completed in 2007. The company now owes more than $550 million.

The state has allowed Twin River to add more video lottery terminals (VLTs) and electronic blackjack and expand hours and rewards. But the Carcieri administration recently broke off discussions about a state bailout of the facility, saying the state is not in a position to take on more debt itself.

In an e-mail last month, Amy Kempe, the governor’s spokeswoman, said the administration thinks a restructuring of Twin River’s heavy debt “would be in the best interest of all stakeholders.”

Kempe also noted that Rhode Island, not Twin River, owns and controls the parlor’s VLTs, which the government leases from Providence-based gaming giant GTECH. The state collects its revenue from the machines before distributing the remainder to Twin River.

The video terminals account for roughly 8 percent of the state’s annual revenue, AP said.

Kempe also emphasized that Twin River has no control over how much is paid out in winnings on the terminals and would not be able to change it if a bankruptcy were to occur.

“Players should have the same level of confidence playing and winning on the slot machines as they do when playing any of the other games offered by the Rhode Island Lottery, such as PowerBall, Wild Money and others,” she said.

Information about Twin River and its owners, BLB Investors LLC, is available at TwinRiver.com.

This article has been revised and updated.