Fallout from Massachusetts’ embrace of casinos continued to rain down Wednesday, with Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I., announcing it has agreed to buy Newport Grand, the slots-only gambling hall that could soon be imperiled by Bay State gaming facilities.

In announcing the deal, John Taylor Jr., chairman of Twin River’s parent, said the company would not immediately seek to add table games at Newport Grand, where attempts to expand the offerings have been rejected more than once by local voters, most recently in a November referendum.

Specifically, Taylor said Twin River would not pursue a ballot measure in the 2016 general election.

“We are well aware of the fact that the Newport community is not now in favor of any expansion of gaming at Newport Grand and may never be,” Taylor said in a statement. “While we believe that would aid considerably in the property’s long-term ability to compete in an increasingly challenging gaming marketplace, we will respect the wishes of the community.”

Clyde Barrow, an expert on Northeast gaming, said Newport Grand’s new owners would likely seek to introduce table games at some point.

“Their choices are: one, close it down, which I don’t think they will do; or, two, improve it and wait strategically until it’s the right time to propose table games,” Barrow said in a phone interview. “Once the reality of gaming in Massachusetts sets in, they may have a different thought” about waiting to expand offerings.

Massachusetts has issued licenses for a slots parlor in Plainville and casinos in Everett, which is outside of Boston, and Springfield, and is fielding applications for a third casino in the southeastern part of the state. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe hopes to open an Indian casino in that region, too.

Principals involved in the Newport Grand purchase acknowledged what was at stake — about 175 jobs and $26 million a year in state revenue.

“As a company headquartered in Rhode Island, we understand how important the future of Newport Grand is to the state, and when the acquisition opportunity presented itself, believed that we might be best qualified to preserve and possibly enhance that revenue and protect valuable jobs,” Taylor said. “We have a unique understanding of this market and have developed a formula for how to successfully compete in it.”

Word of the Newport Grand transaction came on the same day that Barrow released the latest annual report of the Northeastern Gaming Research Project, which he manages. In the report, Barrow, a former UMass Dartmouth professor who now chairs the political science department at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, details the decline of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun as well as Twin River’s transformation from a slots parlor to a full-blown casino.

Twin River has added to Foxwoods’ woes, in particular, since introducing table games in 2012. Now, it’s seeking state and local approvals to build a hotel. A bill that would lift an existing ban on such expansion is expected to be introduced in the Rhode Island legislature this week, according to Patti Doyle, a Twin River spokeswoman.

Plans call for a 200-room hotel costing $30 million to $35 million, Doyle said.

Barrow said that in writing his report, he was struck by Twin River’s success and by the magnitude of the Connecticut casinos’ losses.

“Twin River has experienced explosive growth,” he writes in the report, “intercepting hundreds of millions of Bay State dollars once spent at the Connecticut casinos, and finally growing spending by its own state’s residents who, for years, spent more money at the Connecticut casinos than at their own state’s largest slot parlor.”

On the other hand, revenues at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have declined 39 percent after peaking at an estimated $3.2 billion in 2006, the report says. Over the same period, the casinos have shed nearly 37 percent of their employees.

Barrow said the Connecticut casinos’ $1.9 billion in combined revenues in 2014 could fall to as low as $1.3 billion when Massachusetts casinos come on line in 2017 or 2018.

He said the tribes that own the casinos, the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegans, would be wise to propose off-reservation gaming facilities — probably a slots parlor — in northern Connecticut, near the Massachusetts border.

“I think it does make sense,” he said. “At this point, the conversation is really about protecting what you have. It’s about getting closer to the customers and intercepting them before they leave the state. The real concern with MGM is that Hartford is closer to Springfield than it is to Mohegan Sun.”

Twin River acquired a purchase-and-sale agreement for Newport Grant held by former Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino Jr. and Paul Roiff, partners who had planned to turn Newport Grand into an entertainment center if voters had approved table games.

“Since the November election, we have considered many options as to who would best manage the property, while taking into consideration the wishes of Newport residents,” Paolino said. “Because of our commitment to keep local ownership, we felt that Twin River would be best suited for the job, especially since they agreed not to go back to the people of Newport for another table game vote.”

The purchase price was not disclosed.

Diane Hurley, Newport Grand’s longtime owner, said she was pleased that the facility would be owned by a Rhode Island-based company with “a strong track record of success in this industry.”

“In the face of increased competition coming shortly from nearby Massachusetts, we must do all we possibly can to preserve important state revenue and these jobs,” she said in a statement.

The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close no later than June 30.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck