The track’s fortunes began to improve with the passage of the Racetrack Video Lottery Act of 1994. MTR Gaming Group purchased the track, then known as Mountaineer Park, in 1992. In 1990, as a Lottery Commission pilot project, the first 165 video lottery machines were installed at the track. Nevertheless, Waterford closed in 1983, reopening in 1984 after the legislature granted tax concessions. In the 1970s and 1980s, the track was floundering, and in 1981 the state legislature passed and county residents endorsed Sunday racing in an effort to keep the facility operating. The complex has since grown to include a resort hotel, restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, a fitness center, and a 5,100-seat ballroom and events center, in addition to the racetrack and the casino. Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort, located in Chester, Hancock County, was called Waterford Park when it opened as a thoroughbred horse racing track in 1951.
