Ellis Park Gets Approval For Casino in Owensboro

The casino, which will have 600 historical horse racing machines, will be located in an existing building on the main business street in Owensboro, which is a 30-minute drive from Ellis Park in Henderson, according to Ellis Park officials who spoke in front of the commission Tuesday. The officials said that the cost of the facility would be $16.7 million.

Ellis Park sought the approval at a time when many horsemen and commission officials have become frustrated that the track’s owner, Laguna Development Corp., has not made good on promises to spend tens of millions of dollars on the track in improvements. Laguna, the business development arm of the Laguna Pueblo tribe of New Mexico, bought Ellis for $11 million in 2019 and promised at that time to spend $100 million on track improvements, including a new hotel.

Tim Perkins, chief operating officer of Laguna, told the commissioners that the company’s cash flow slowed to a trickle in 2020 because of COVID-related shutdowns of its two casinos in New Mexico, severely restricting the company’s ability to invest in Ellis.

“Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic required most of our plans to be adjusted on the fly,” Perkins said. “We had to re-evaluate our path going forward.”

Perkins said that the company has reached a deal on a new line of credit to fund the build-out of the Owensboro casino and $15 million in renovations to Ellis Park over the next several years. One of those Ellis projects is a $4 million installation of lights that will enable Ellis to run at night for the first time in its 99-year history. Another is the widening of the turf course.

Perkins said that Laguna spent $3.5 million on improvements to Ellis during the pandemic, but he acknowledged that the money had been spent on general repairs to “get a 100-year-old track up to working order.”

“Many of these repairs are not the ones that are clearly evident to the guests, but they were absolutely necessary just to keep the facility running and operational,” Perkins said.

Jonathan Rabinowitz, chairman of the commission, told other commissioners he had met with Perkins last week in order to discuss the company’s long-term plans for Ellis, a reflection of the concern among Kentucky horsemen.

The Owensboro casino is the fifth “non-contiguous” license that the KHRC has awarded. Kentucky Downs, Churchill Downs, Turfway Park, and a new harness track planned for the Corbin area also have been approved for satellite gambling facilities, in addition to the licenses already awarded at all of the existing tracks.

Also at the meeting, the KHRC approved race dates for 2022 that will have several changes from years past. Turfway Park will now run on a Friday-Sunday schedule in the winter, with Thursdays optional, after running on a Thursday-Saturday schedule, with Wednesday optional, last winter.

Kentucky Downs in Franklin will run seven live race dates next year, one more than this year, with live dates on Sept. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, and 14. Kentucky Downs has been seeking to add an additional date for several years, but the plans have usually been resisted by both Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

Keeneland was awarded fall racing dates from Oct. 7-29 and two race dates on Nov. 4-5 to host the Breeders’ Cup. Between the Oct. 29 closing date and the first day of the Breeders’ Cup, racing will take place at Churchill Downs on Oct. 30, Nov. 2, and Nov. 3.

FOOTNOTE: Republished by the City-CountyObserber without editing, opinion, or bias.