Horse racing finishing last in Oklahoma gaming

By Tim Talley

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ Champion stallion Bully Bullion snorted and gnawed on the bit of his custom-made bridle as the quarter horse paced on the soft wood shavings that covered the floor of his stall at the Belle Mere Farm west of Norman.

Nearby, mares pounded their hooves into a rain-soaked meadow and playfully nuzzled and nipped at each other as they meandered along the edge of a fenced paddock that contained dozens of quarter horses, Appaloosas, paints and thoroughbreds.

Oklahoma's horse industry, known nationwide for breeding champions, has been on an economic gallop for decades. Horse breeding and racing is the state's third largest industry, behind agriculture and oil and gas, employing 57,000 people and accounting for an estimated $3 billion in economic activity each year.

But horse breeders believe that successful farms like Belle Mere are threatened by state regulations that prevent horse tracks from offering the same kinds of games that are available at Oklahoma's popular tribal
casinos.

"It's taking the gaming dollar away from the racetrack," said Dee Raper, who with his wife, Betty, has built Belle Mere into one of the largest quarter horse farms in the nation.

Smaller crowds at Oklahoma's horse tracks have meant smaller purses for owners and breeders who rely upon racing income to stay in business.

"It's taken a lot of the money out of our business," Raper said.

Now, Raper and other horse breeders want state lawmakers to pass legislation that puts them on the same gaming plain as tribal casinos and allows horse tracks to offer the same kinds of games.

Without gaming parity, Raper said he and other champion horse breeders may be forced to move their operations to states where other forms of gaming are permitted at tracks, including Louisiana and New Mexico.

"That's all we ask for," Raper said. "We've had a lot of promises. But those promises haven't been fulfilled."

Legislation that would have granted the parity horse breeders want was passed by the Oklahoma Senate last month but stalled in the House, which did not vote on the issue before the Legislature adjourned on May 30.

Horse racing groups, including the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association, are considering circulating an initiative petition to ask voters to authorize tracks to offer the games permitted at tribal
casinos, said executive director Debbie Schauf.

"The only way the money flows to the horse industry is from the racetrack," Schauf said.

Lawmakers said there will be a sense of urgency when the Legislature takes up the issue again next year.

"It's crucial," said Rep. Wayne Pettigrew, one of the measure's co-authors. Pettigrew said the future of Oklahoma's three operating horse tracks, including Oklahoma City's Remington Park, and their economic impact to the state may hang in the balance.

"If we don't pass this bill next session, then we will probably be down to one or no horse tracks in the state of Oklahoma. And Oklahoma has more horses per capita than any other state in the nation.

"Here we are, the horse capital of the world. And we're treating them worse than anybody," Pettigrew said.

Opposition to the measure comes from religious organizations and others who say that offering Class II bingo and pull-tab games at race tracks will further expand gambling in the state.

"It's not that we're against horsemen, we're against gambling," said Ray Sanders, spokesman for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. "We still maintain that gambling is not right for Oklahoma."

Sanders and Rep. Forrest Claunch, R-Midwest City, said giving the race tracks parity would not only increase the availability of video bingo and other slot-like machines but could also open the door to
casino-style Class III gaming.

"What they want is what the tribes are doing illegally right now, and that is Class III," Claunch said.

"They built the thing as a horse track and if they can't get enough people to come in and bet on horses, then maybe they ought to change it to a NASCAR track," Claunch said.

Sanders said religious groups oppose gambling on moral grounds and believe it leads to a variety of social ills, including drug and alcohol addiction.

"I don't know that we would ever support anything that expands gambling in Oklahoma," Sanders said. "I don't think we need more of a bad thing."

The opposition concerns Remington manager R.D. Logan. Remington did not hold a spring racing meet this year for the first time in the track's 15-year history as it struggles to cut costs and adjust to
falling revenue due to poor attendance.

"Gaming is occurring in this state," Logan said referring to the proliferation of tribal casinos. "The gaming is going to continue to grow. They're going to keep building casinos."

"All that the industry is asking for is parity, to do the same gaming that is occurring at approximately 70 Indian casinos in the state," said Don Essery, manager of Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw.

"It's not a matter of the tracks getting rich. It's a matter of the tracks surviving," said Essery, whose track has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since September.

"If something's not done, it will stop and there will be a mass exodus," he said.

"I'm an Oklahoman. I'm a horseman. And I don't want to see this place close," said Remington's Logan. "But how long can you afford to keep losing money?"

Remington handled a total of $83 million last year, $30 million less than it handled in 2000.

"At what point do the shareholders and management make the rational decision to stop the bleeding?" Logan said.