Kentucky commission still gathering information on harness track proposals

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky regulators intend to gauge the interest of the local community and collect more information from applicants before they will consider whether to approve one of three proposals to build a new harness track and casino near Oak Grove in the southeast area of the state, members of the state’s racing commission said on Tuesday.

Frank Kling, the chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said on Tuesday that the commission intended to notify residents of the community and surrounding counties about a public meeting to be held within the next two weeks to discuss the proposals. Kling also said that he asked all three applicants to submit additional information germane to their plans as a way to put all three applications on identical footing, since some applications included some details that other applications did not.

Kling discussed those plans following a brief meeting of the commission’s race dates committee on Tuesday at the Kentucky Horse Park. Under Kentucky law, the racing commission must approve racing dates by Nov. 1, and the commission has its next scheduled meeting on Oct. 27.

Asked whether the commission intended to approve one of the three applications prior to the Nov. 1 deadline, Kling acknowledged that the dates committee and the commission would be under enormous pressure.

“We are going to try to do it by Nov. 1,” Kling said. “It depends on the feedback we get and how quickly that information is turned back to us.”

The three applications have been filed by a partnership of Churchill Downs and Keeneland; Kentucky Downs, which already operates a track and casino on the Tennessee state line; and Players Bluegrass Downs, a Quarter Horse track owned by the casino giant Caesars Entertainment. The proposals all call for a short harness meet at a facility located near the Tennessee border and the Ft. Campbell army base that would also take bets on hundreds of slot machine-like devices year-round.

At the Tuesday meeting, Kling deputized Doug Hendrickson, a member of the dates committee and commission, to gauge the interest of the Oak Grove community. Hendrickson said after the meeting that it was important that the committee reach out to residents without favoring one of the proposals.

“We have to make sure it’s not a cheerleading event for any one of the applicants,” Hendrickson said. “We have to give everyone a chance to voice their opinions.”

Mark Simendinger, vice chairman of the commission, said that regulators should avoid asking for a vote on the proposal at the public hearing, given the inability to determine whether such a vote would be representative of the local community’s majority opinion or whether it could have been influenced by outreach efforts by one of the applicants.

“This is strictly informational,” Simendinger said. “There’s no vote.”

Kling said that the outcome of the meeting may determine whether the commission could consider one of the proposals this year.

“If there’s no opposition, then you can move forward quickly,” Kling said. “If there is opposition, then you have to take those things into account.”

Under Kentucky’s parimutuel regulations, racing licenseholders can operate historical horseracing machines, which are very similar to slot machines but use previously run races to determine payouts to winners. The devices, which are in operation at four locations in Kentucky already, have generated tens of millions of dollars for track owners while bolstering purses on the Kentucky circuit.

Applicants are also looking to the more distant future considering that the state’s legislature may renew efforts to authorize casinos in the next several years. In previous unsuccessful iterations of casino legislation in the state, racetrack licensees have been identified as having favored status for the operation of casinos.