Oregon ruling on historical racing machines hobbles planned casino at Grants Pass
The Oregon Justice Department on Friday issued an opinion calling the operation of historical horse-racing machines unconstitutional, a decision that could remove a potential revenue source for the state’s only track, Grants Pass Downs.
The Justice Department decision said that the devices, which closely resemble slot machines and which were in use at Portland Meadows before that track shut down, “do not afford players any meaningful opportunity to exercise skills” and, as such, are games of chance prohibited by the state constitution. Similar legal opinions have been issued in other states in the Pacific Northwest in the past decade.
Travis Boersma, the billionaire co-founder of Dutch Bros., the coffee company, bought Grants Pass Downs three years ago, and shortly thereafter announced plans to build a $50 million facility on the property, called The Flying Lark, that would house 225 historical horse-racing terminals. Native American tribes in Oregon, which operate 12 casinos in the state, banded together to lobby against approval of the machines.
TMB Racing, the company Boersma founded to operate the track, had filed an application to the Oregon Racing Commission to approve the machines. Last year, Gov. Kate Brown told the commission to refrain from considering the application until the Justice Department could examine the issue.
In a written statement, Boersma noted that the application is still in front of the racing commission, which had previously approved the operation of the machines at Portland Meadows, which was shut down by its owner, The Stronach Group, in 2018.
“I believe the Oregon Racing Commission is acting in good faith and the process will ultimately reveal The Flying Lark to be a legal venture that serves to improve Oregon’s economy,” the statement read.
Historical horse-racing machines have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for racetrack owners in several states, including Kentucky and Arkansas. Kentucky’s supreme court issued an opinion in 2020 calling into question the legality of the devices, leading the state legislature to pass a bill explicitly authorizing the machines.
The Oregon Justice Department acknowledged in its opinion that legislators and the state’s regulatory agencies had allowed the machines at Portland Meadows.
“However, whether the constitution permitted those machines to be authorized was never formally resolved,” the opinion said.