irginia Santosuosso, 30, and her husband, James, 31, work opposite, full-time shifts at the Wonderland greyhound track in Revere in order for one parent to always be home with their 2-year-old son Matthew and their 6-year-old daughter Deanna.
Virginia Santosuosso is food and beverage manager at the track's commissary, and met her husband, a concessions manager there, at Wonderland a decade ago. With a Nov. 7 ballot initiative proposing a ban of dog racing in Massachusetts, the Santosuosso family is uncertain of its future.
Passage of Question 3 - one of the most divisive of the ballot initiatives - would require the state to close its two dog tracks, Wonderland and Raynham-Taunton in Raynham.
''It's a scary situation,'' Virginia Santosuosso said. ''It's really hard to know what the population is going to vote for. If the track closes we're both out of a job.''
Santosuosso said she and her husband are especially worried because they are trying to buy their first home.
Backers of Question 3 say dog racing is inhumane, and that dog owners would never subject their pets to the conditions greyhounds live under in the racing industry.
Many employees of the two tracks admit they are frightened. That includes longtime Wonderland electrician Danny Harrington, 60, of Salem, who once thought the proposal to ban dog racing ''didn't have a prayer.''
''I try to show a lot of confidence, but to be honest, I'm very concerned right now,'' said Harrington, who has spent his free time holding ''No on 3'' signs in front of MBTA stations.
Both dog tracks are their communities' biggest employers and real estate taxpayers. In addition to local jobs, the State Racing Commission, which employs 43 state workers and 80 contract workers, is likely to be cut in half if Question 3 wins approval, according to Racing Commission chairman Robert M. Hutchinson Jr.
The anti-dog racing group backing Question 3, Grey2K, has called for a seven-month phase-out of the sport, and has also filed a bill that would provide about $2 million from trust funds accrued from the tracks' earnings, for job retraining and replacement programs. Proponents argue the sport, which has been in decline, could be replaced by growth industries.
''We do care about workers in the industry,'' said Grey2K spokesman Carey Theil.
More than a dozen state lawmakers recently denounced the referendum, because neither track has been charged with abuse and because they consider it high-stakes for their communities and the state.
Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein, a Revere Democrat, called the initiative ''a slap in the face.'' Reinstein, who worked at Wonderland to pay her college tuition, acknowledges the industry has changed because of competition from casino gambling, but said the tracks ''still provide the jobs.''
Jobs at the state's tracks range from cocktail server to racing administrator. Track executives said the average track worker is high school educated, union-represented, makes $14 per hour and receives a benefits package, including health care, pension and legal plans.
Richard Dalton, president of Wonderland, said employees approach him every day with questions he can not answer.
''I know they're apprehensive, they don't know what the future holds, and here it is the holiday season and they are in turmoil,'' Dalton said.
