Oregon Tribes Ask Governor For Deeper Examination Of Historical Racing Plan At Grants Pass Downs

Six regional tribal operators have asked Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) for a more thorough examination of the plans to add a group of 250 historical racing terminals to Grants Pass Downs, reports Casino.org.

Track owner Travis Boersma has released plans to build “The Flying Lark,” a combination of space for the historical racing terminals, a restaurant, a sports bar, and a banquet area.

The tribes' argument revolves around the question of whether or not historical racing can be considered pari-mutuel wagering, especially the latest technology. Historical racing has been legal in the state since 2012, but only at racetracks.

Previously, Gov. Brown had indicated that she would defer to the Oregon Racing Commission about the project.

“The state's regulatory framework has not evolved to reflect new technology or its impacts on the public,” the tribes wrote. “We are at a critical moment where the state is about to approve the largest expansion of state-regulated gambling in decades without public or legislative input.”

Read more at Casino.org.

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Three of Four Oregon Fairs Now a ‘Go’

One of Oregon's four mixed-meet racing fairs has dropped out of the rotation for this summer. The manager of the Harney County Fair in Burns told the Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) May 20 the track won't be running July 24 and 25, but that the fair's management wants to improve its focus on racing so the meet can resume in 2022 after a two-year hiatus.

Last year none of the Oregon fairs raced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state's lone commercial track, Grants Pass Downs, has been in action since May 10, and meets are to follow at Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union (June 11-13), Crooked River Roundup in Prineville (July 14-17), and Tillamook County Fair in Tillamook (Aug. 11-14).

ORC executive director Jack McGrail said that as coronavirus restrictions ease, those venues could be racing in front of full-capacity crowds by the summer.

Jordon Bennett, the fair manager for Harney County, thanked commissioners for the work they had put into trying to get Harney up and running, including by providing the fairs circuit tracks with additional operations funding. As of last month's ORC meeting, Harney had intended to race in 2021.

In turn, commission members thanked Bennett for his candid remarks on how Harney can do better next year.

“I feel as if horse racing here has been kind of haphazard,” Bennett admitted to the board. “We haven't given our full effort, which is something I'm trying to work on. So we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row for 2022…. We're committed. We just want to make sure we do it right.”

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Encouraging Reversal: All Oregon Fairs Now Expected to Race

The in-flux nature of racing at Oregon's summer fairs took an encouraging turn Thursday when Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) executive director Jack McGrail announced that all four stops on the circuit now intend to host mixed meets in 2021.

That's an improvement from the update McGrail provided at the March ORC meeting, when the status of Eastern Oregon Livestock Show meet in Union and Harney County Fair in Burns were both considered to be in limbo because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Those two fairs will join Crooked River Roundup in Prineville and Tillamook County Fair in Tillamook, both of which had already expressed commitment to racing in 2021.

“Our four fair meets are all tentatively scheduled to run this year, which is rather surprising,” McGrail said during the Apr. 15 teleconference meeting. “But we're very pleased about that. The situation is somewhat fluid [because of ever-changing pandemic restrictions]. But we do feel that all four meets are going to run.

“Things will look a little bit different, and logistically there are some challenges,” McGrail continued. “But we've provided additional funds to the fairs to work through some of those challenges, including additional sanitation measures and cordoning off people, and [to offset] the fact that they might have some revenue losses or some reduction in revenue due to limitations on attendance.

“But that they're all going to run is a good thing, and they'll all be going to run on their traditional race dates, excepting Harney County, which is going to try, as an experiment, to move to a two-day meet July 24 and 25. We're hoping that those dates, which come on the heels of the Crooked River Roundup, will encourage more horsemen to travel out to [Harney]…”

As posted on the ORC website, the 2021 fairs schedule will look like this: Eastern Oregon (June 11-13); Crooked River (July 14-17); Harney (July 24 and 25), and Tillamook (Aug. 11-14).

McGrail explained that Grants Pass Downs, which transitioned from a fairs track to being the lone commercial licensee in Oregon in 2020 after the closure of Portland Meadows, has agreed to make small schedule adjustments to its 35-day meet so it better dovetails with the fairs circuit.

Rod Lowe, the Grants Pass Downs racing director and chief operating officer, said during the meeting that “200 plus” horses are already training at the southern Oregon track in anticipation for the May 10 season opener. He added that all 450 stalls on the grounds are expected to be allocated, but “if anybody else comes in, then we'll try to accommodate them also, somehow.”

Lowe explained that Grants Pass is in the midst of an approval process to have an adjacent three-acre piece of property converted to stabling, which will add 200 more stalls.

Lowe also noted there is currently a shortage of licensed riders to exercise horses during morning training at Grants Pass.

“We're a little short on exercise riders [and] jockeys at this point,” Lowe said. “A lot of them are still at other racetracks, and they're starting to dribble in. But so far we've been able to keep up. They've had to really run from barn from barn to get on enough horses to get everybody out; they're getting by.”

Grants Pass Downs will race Mondays and Tuesdays with a 5:15 p.m. (Pacific) first post.

Shortly after Lowe's update, the open-public commission meeting was “Zoom bombed” by an obscenity-spewing disruptor whose intrusive and lewd comments did not appear to be connected in any way to the racing community. The tele-meeting had to be stopped, and to deny further access to the troll, a private link to continue was emailed to commission participants; this prevented TDN from covering the remainder of the meeting.

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Online Historical Horse Racing Game Luckii.com Strikes Major League Soccer Marketing Deal In Oregon

Just months after launching, Luckii.com – the online game powered by Historic Horse Racing – has been named the official online gaming partner of the Portland Timbers.

Luckii and the Major League Soccer team will collaborate on in-game and on-field sponsorships, online promotions, charitable efforts and IP rights, including a soon-to-be-released Timbers-themed game.

“We are thrilled to welcome Luckii as our official online gaming partner,” said Mike Golub, the team's President of Business. “Since their launch in Oregon, we've discussed creative ways to introduce Luckii to our fans and are excited about this new multi-year partnership.”

Luckii gives players the chance to win real money and big jackpots through a variety of Vegas-style games, which follow pari-mutuel rules, and can be played at home or on the go. Since launching late last year, Luckii has paid out nearly $3M in prizes and has seen double-digit weekly growth.

Under terms of the Timbers agreement, soccer fans coming back to Providence Park this season will see Luckii promotions on the field and around the stadium, as well as regional broadcast integration for home and away games on FOX 12 Oregon and ROOT Sports. Timbers fans will also be able to participate in a number of integrated promotions on Luckii.com, including Timbers-specific prizes and branded events.

“We are excited about this groundbreaking partnership with the Timbers,” said Bill Yucatonis, President of Luckii. “The Timbers are an iconic brand in Oregon and a franchise with deep roots in the community, along with a dedicated and passionate fan base we are excited to connect with. As we move forward with plans to expand to other states, this partnership has shown us the value of engaging with Major League Soccer fan bases across the country.”

Luckii is managed by ELS Gaming – a national leader in the development of real estate, hospitality and gaming projects. They bring decades of experience – from legislation and regulation to operations and player experience – and have deep roots in the horse racing industry and online gaming.

Luckii has an exclusive agreement with industry-leader Exacta Systems to power their HHR engine and is licensed by the Oregon Racing Commission as a multi-jurisdictional Advanced Deposit Wagering platform. A portion of proceeds from Luckii.com are provided back to the horse racing industry, supporting racing, local jobs and communities.

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