There’s live racing and simulcasting at the track, which opened 75 years ago, but the signs of life are not good. Teller windows are closed, lights are shut off.

Suffolk, which is running four days a week (Monday-Wednesday and Saturday) with small fields and smaller purses, is no longer a palace or showcase for thoroughbred racing in New England. It has become a survivor, the last track in New England with a thoroughbred calendar.

“We’re kind of at the end of I-95,’’ said Suffolk chief operating officer Chip Tuttle. “After us there is nothing else.’’

Around the country, thoroughbred tracks are on life support, searching for additional revenue. Suffolk is no different as it awaits action in the Massachusetts House and Senate on passage of a gaming bill (slot machines and/or a casino) that almost everyone at the East Boston venue says would be a track-saving addition.

Tuttle, who has wrestled with how to make Suffolk not only solvent, but vibrant, is cautiously optimistic.

“The day-to-day grind can be a challenge,’’ he said, taking a break from a series of meetings which fill his calendar. “We’ve been waiting for revenue from gaming for eight or nine years now. If we don’t get the gaming rights, the long-term future of thoroughbred racing becomes a much more difficult question to answer. You can’t presume anything, but we are light years ahead of where we were two years ago. It’s been a very pleasant surprise how much institutional support there has been for Suffolk Downs. People want to see this place succeed. But that doesn’t mean anyone is going to give you a free pass.’’

“My father and I will be here until the last gun is fired,’’ said Assimakopoulos, who grew up in Fitchburg with dreams of being a teacher or a coach, but was drawn to the track as a teenager and, at 53, has never left.

“I’ve been through the ups and downs. We are going to stick with them until there’s nothing left.’’

Assimakopoulos recognizes the changes in racing, accepts the downsizing, and is willing to listen to other plans. So is Tuttle.

One of the most intriguing is the move by Monmouth Park in New Jersey to cut racing dates during the summer, but increase purses by strictly running a Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule of races from May through Labor Day weekend.

“Everybody is paying attention with good reason,’’ said Tuttle, who oversees a track that has 101 days of racing four days a week through Nov. 13.

Suffolk currently runs programs with an average purse total of $90,000 each day.

“It would be nice to run for two to three times that,’ said Tuttle. “There was a time not too long ago when we were getting the better horses and we were competitive with just about everyone.’’

Monmouth was running a summer schedule similar to Suffolk’s, but with declining purses, attendance, and handle, a plan was activated this spring to run 50 days of racing through Sept. 6, with $50 million in purses.

Thus far, it has worked. Purses, attendance, and handles are up, and horsemen such as trainer Todd Pletcher, who saddled his first Kentucky Derby winner in Super Saver last month, are including Monmouth on their go-to list.

“It has probably generated the most interest and most following I can remember in quite a while,’’ Pletcher told the Newark Star-Ledger. “There’s always a buzz about Saratoga starting, and maybe Keeneland and meets like that. But this is the first time in a while that the industry is focused on how a meeting is going to go.

“I think it’s terrific. They are trying something different. So many times in our industry everyone says the model’s broken, the model’s broken. But no one wants to do anything to fix it. I think it will be interesting to see how this goes and how it will affect the rest of the country in terms of being the model other tracks follow.’’

“When the house bill passed in April, it allowed us to put up [combining with Wonderland Dog track] as many as 1,500 slot machines,’’ said Tuttle. “Also, if the Senate vote passes, we would want to apply for a commercial casino license. There is some ambiguity as to how that would happen, but that’s our intention.’’

Tuttle is a realist. He understands the days of yore, as he calls them — where tracks could simply open their doors and the people would come and bet and spend money — are over.

They are gone in California, in Kentucky, in New York, and in Florida. Churchill Downs in Louisville has put in lights and will run programs at night to attract new and younger audiences. Belmont Park was on the verge of shutting down a few weeks ago before the financially strapped New York Racing Association received a financial boost from the state.

Slot machines and casino gambling is the escape plan for almost everyone. Backers of the slots and/or casinos point to Charles Town in West Virginia, which had daily purses of $21,950 before slots were allowed in 1996 and last year had daily purses of $172,229. Of the 32 states that conduct thoroughbred racing, 12 have a gaming package connected to the track.

Tuttle and Richard Fields, the largest shareholder in the Suffolk Downs ownership, also want hotels, restaurants, and shops as part of an East Boston complex in which horse racing would be a key feature.

“Being able to develop a resort casino helps racing on one level,’’ said Tuttle. “You then get additional funding for purses, which brings you better horses. If you bring better horses, you improve your local breeding industry. There are people who are here, who can get better horses. And we’ve learned here that when we put on a good show, there is a great response. We’ve got to figure out a way to be innovative, figure out ways to make the product better, figure out ways to make the product more appealing and more appealing to the younger generation.

“To do that, you have to create a facility the people are going to want to come to. We also have to figure out a way to balance our track audience with our off-track audience.’’

Tuttle says some signs are not good. The number of foals has decreased each year. Overall wagering has declined almost $2 billion in the last two years. It is also much easier for racing fans to simply stay home and sit at their computer or in front of the television set and wager from their living rooms.

“There has to be more emphasis on common benefits,’’ said Tuttle. “Everybody doing their own thing is just not going to work anymore. We need to invest in the facility, we need to invest in the product.’’

John Assimakopoulos said the solution is clear.

“The slots, the casinos, the other stuff, it’s a slam dunk,’’ he said. “It would be phenomenal. Not just the track; the restaurants, the other stuff. How many jobs is that going to create? If [Suffolk] does go under, thousands of jobs get lost. If you leave it as it is, it’s not going to make it. We just can’t compete. If there is no racing, this is the last man standing, so to speak. There is nothing from here to New York.

“I’m hopeful they will do the right thing. It’s a tough time for everybody in this business. But this place is a survivor. I’m thankful for Mr. Fields. This place would have gone down if it weren’t for him. Hopefully, we can go to the next step. I’m looking forward to it.’’

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.