Sec. 1. 8 MRSA §271, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1995, c. 408, §3, is further amended to read:

5. Minimum number of race dates. The commission may assign a commercial licensee a minimum number of race dates for a period of up to 3 years. The specific calendar dates for the minimum number of race dates and any additional race dates are determined each year in accordance with subsection 1. For the purposes of this subsection, "commercial licensee" means a licensee with an annual total of more than 25 race dates with pari-mutuel wagering in the previous calendar year.

Sec. 2. 8 MRSA §271, sub-§9, as reallocated by RR 1997, c. 1, §7, is amended to read:

9. Previous year's dates. Beginning with licenses issued for calendar year 1996, notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, every commercial track that is licensed licensee for a specific calendar year must be assigned all of the race dates that it requests for that year if it conducted live racing on those dates during the immediately preceding calendar year. For the purposes of this section, a race date is the same from year to year if it is the closest calendar date that falls on the same day of the week.

Sec. 3. 8 MRSA §275-A, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 1999, c. 482, §2 and affected by §10, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

1.__Commercial track.__"Commercial track" means a harness racing track owned or operated by a commercial licensee.

Sec. 4. 8 MRSA §275-A, sub-§1-E is enacted to read:

1-E.__Commercial licensee.__"Commercial licensee" means a licensee that conducted more than 25 race dates with pari-mutuel wagering in each of the 2 previous calendar years.

Sec. 5. 8 MRSA §275-D, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1997, c. 528, §20, is further amended to read:

3. Notice to commercial track; objections. An applicant shall send written notice of its application for an off-track betting license to any commercial racetrack track in whose market area the facility will be located and shall present proof to the commission that it has provided the notice. The notice must include all information contained in the application except information described in subsection 2, paragraph Q. A