By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Turfway Park is poised to gain approval for historical racing machines, but don’t expect to see the devices when live racing resumes at the Florence track this week.
The request for approval is on the agenda for the Dec. 1 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission meeting, and Turfway General Manager Chip Bach said he is confident it to be green-lighted.
“The commission has already come in and done a site inspection and we’ve been working with our partners,” Bach said. “We believe we are well prepared for it.”
Bach
The devices, which are similar to slot machines in appearance, use historical racing data to generate random numbers that determine winners. While the machines use data from previously run races, the bettor has no way of knowing which race is used to determine the payoffs.
The slot-like appearance offers a user-friendly and familiar format designed to appeal to bettors.
Live racing returns to Turfway Park Thursday, Dec. 3, but Bach said the devices, also called Instant Racing machines, are not expected to be installed until sometime after the Winter/Spring Meet ends April 3.
“We really don’t have a timeline, they are still working with vendors and contractors to understand the facility and how it would be best used for Instant Racing machines,” Bach said. It wouldn’t happen during the live racing meet at all.”
Historical Racing was developed at Oaklawn Park, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 2000, in association with AmTote Inc. and other partners. AmTote is an international systems supplier of software and hardware for the pari-mutuel industry.
Pari-mutuel wagering is the standard method of betting in the horse-racing industry. Wagers are collected and pooled, with a percentage of the total removed for the race track, or “house.” Payoff odds are determined by sharing the remaining pool among all winning bets.
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Historical Racing, also called Instant Racing, was approved in Kentucky in 2010. While other race tracks installed the device, Turfway Park waited for some of the legal challenges to be resolved before moving forward.
Preliminary plans, which call for the machines to be installed on the first floor (track level) will be introduced at the KHRC meeting Tuesday.
“There is enough space to be able to cohabitate with simulcast wagering,” Bach said. “I think they anticipate installing about 250 machines.”
Historical wagering machines are currently in use at Ellis Park in Henderson, the Red Mile in Lexington and Kentucky Downs in Franklin.
The devices have helped increase revenue and boost purses at those tracks, but none has the proliferation of casinos that the Greater Cincinnati market, which includes Turfway Park, has.
Rock Gaming currently owns 90 percent of Turfway Park and the Keeneland Association maintains a 10 percent stake in the track.
Turfway was previously owned by a partnership that included Caesars Entertainment and the casino company was concerned that an adverse ruling in the courts could impact its other gaming operations.
“There has always been an interest in it and with Rock Gaming buying out the Caesars interest in the facility, they have been taking a more aggressive look at it,” Bach said. “They have been doing due diligence and understanding how instant racing would fit into this market.”
While some legal hurdles remain, Turfway has decided to go forward with the request, but it may be too little, too late.
The Kentucky Legislature has consistently denied voters the opportunity to weigh in on a constitutional amendment that would allow casino gaming at race tracks in Kentucky.
Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all allow some form of casino gaming and supporters of a constitutional amendment say it has left Kentucky at a competitive disadvantage.
Purses and revenues at Turfway Park have suffered in recent years and in 2012, the KHRC awarded Turfway’s fall meet dates to Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Horseshoe Cincinnati Casino and Belterra Casino and Resort, Rising Star Casino Resort and Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg, in Southwest Indiana are all a short distance from Turfway Park.
In addition, Belterra Park Gaming in Cincinnati, Miami Valley Gaming in Lebanon, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley and Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway in Dayton, are also a short drive from Turfway.
All offer live and simulcast wagering on thoroughbred and/or harness racing, as well as slot machines.
Also on the agenda at the KHRC meeting is a request from Keeneland to establish a Quarter Horse Race Track (Cumberland Run) in Corbin, in the southeast part of the state, and to offer wagering on Historical Horse Races at that facility.
Planning for the Cumberland Run facility began more than a year ago.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
