For the past 75 years, the old and once-illustrious greyhound racetrack, Wonderland – Massachusetts‘ last bastion of live dog racing, until last years’ voter-approved ban on greyhound racing – closed its doors for the final time on Thursday.

The CEO and president of Wonderland, Richard Dalton said, “This is an emotional day for us. And the most difficult part of it is that hardworking people have been given notice they no longer have a job.”

Most employees blamed their subsequent loss of employment on Governor Patrick and the closing for his seemingly insensitivity toward their plight, as all knew he was aware of their desperate situation. Still, for slot machines and sports betting to be allowed into the track, when a bill came up requesting allotment, which might have tempted more customers back for something other than greyhound racing, the Governor refused to sign it.

Despite the unfortunate consequences, Governor Patrick has claimed that the resulting from his refusal to sign the measure, which he said he could, not, in good conscience, does, because, he said, “the slots provision amounted to no-bid contracts for the tracks.” However, he would help all those he promised who had lost their jobs.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said that he plans to file a bill for $2 million to go toward job re-training for those workers who had been put out of employment yesterday by this closing and he strongly supported the bill favoring the slot machines.

Up to 150 people are employed in Wonderland.