CHUCK STINNETT, Gleaner, For the Evansville Courier & Press
ANDERSON, Ind. - ANDERSON, Ind. - It's 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, but already hundreds of people - a thousand, perhaps, although it's impossible to count - occupy seats in front of electronic slot machines at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino.
The smoke-tinged air is filled with piped-in music and the incessant ding-ding-dinging of the machines, which accept wagers ranging from a penny to $100. So it goes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Welcome to the future - make that the present - of thoroughbred racing.
Faster-paced gambling - the scratching of state lottery tickets or the whir of slot machines - is now within easy reach of millions of Americans, including Kentuckians.
In Iowa in 1989, two events unfolded: The state became the first to reintroduce riverboat casinos. And Prairie Meadows Racetrack opened.
The riverboats thrived; the racetrack was soon in bankruptcy. But in 1995, the Iowa legislature approved the installation of slot machines at Prairie Meadows, with a significant portion of the proceeds going to subsidize purses at the track.
In essence, slots players subsidize horse racing without those gamblers necessarily laying eyes on a horse. Welcome to the racetrack casino. Welcome to the racino.
Since 1995, riverboat casinos have swept eastward along Kentucky's border. Today, they operate at Caruthersville, Mo.; Metropolis, Ill.; at Casino Aztar in Evansville; Elizabeth, Ind., near Louisville; Florence, Ind.; Rising Sun, Ind.; and Lawrenceburg, Ind.
A growing number of states - among them, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania - allow racetracks to add casinos.
Businessman Ron Geary, who owns both Ellis Park Race Course here as well as a Louisville-based charter air service, described the impact while aboard a Cessna Citation jet flying toward Indianapolis with a few media members on Friday.
"Twelve years ago, Aztar took 35 percent of (Ellis Park's) business," Geary said. "Seven years ago, Indiana Downs' off-track betting parlor (in Evansville) took 30 percent of the remaining 65 percent."
Still, Geary agreed to purchase the money-losing Ellis Park from owner Churchill Downs Inc. two summers ago.
Geary insists he thought he could make Ellis profitable again through traditional horse racing. But he said he couldn't imagine that so many states near Kentucky would allow racetracks to build casinos and steal horses from Bluegrass tracks.
"I didn't expect Pennsylvania to get it," he said. "And I really didn't expect Indiana to get it."
But they did.
The $200 million Indiana Live! Casino southeast of Indianapolis, is an upscale affair that looks like a giant 21st-century version of Frank Lloyd Wright house. There are more than five acres under roof; inside are a Maker's Mark Bourbon House and a NASCAR-themed sports restauran. Hoosier Park Racing Casino, located northeast of Indy, is more modest; from a distance, it could be mistaken for a shopping mall. But by Geary's estimate, its net revenues exceed a half-million dollars a day.
Now Geary - along with Kentucky's other racetracks, Gov. Steve Beshear and House Speaker Greg Stumbo - are urging the Kentucky General Assembly to pass legislation during a special session beginning June 15 to allow casino-style gambling at the tracks.
Proceeds could bolster the state budget, subsidize race purses, provide incentives to Kentucky horse breeders and, they say, preserve the state's "signature industry."
In March, Geary presented to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission a 2008 study on race purses prepared by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, a national trade group.
The study projected that Ellis Park's total purses in 2009 would drop 15 percent to $4.5 million, while Indiana Downs' purses would jump to $15 million and Hoosier's would hit $11 million.
The upshot: The Indiana tracks have the prize money that can draw horsemen, and their horses, away from Kentucky. Indiana Downs is extending its thoroughbred meet until July 15, and Hoosier's will start on July 30. That pincher movement is suffocating Ellis Park, siphoning away horses. "Indiana Downs and Hoosier Park are really feeling their oats," Geary said. "They want to put us out of business."
As a result, Geary is shortening Ellis' 2009 live meet from 48 days to just 23. The track is even forgoing racing on the Fourth of July, traditionally one of its most successful days.
"They didn't just hurt Ellis Park," Geary said. "They hurt all of us," causing even Louisville's Churchill Downs to eliminate seven racing dates this spring because of a shortage of horses.
So once again, Kentucky - a Bible-belt state whose most famous industries are bourbon and horse racing - debates expanded gaming.
In the event that the slots bill does pass, Geary expects a legal challenge on the issue of whether the legislature could approve casinos without a voter referendum. A ruling likely wouldn't come until October or November, he said.
If the ruling were favorable, Geary hopes to have a circus-sized tent temporarily erected at Ellis Park and VLTs operating by the first quarter of next year. Ultimately, he envisions building a $65 million facility with 1,200 VLTs.
"Ellis Park year-round does $12 million" in net revenues currently, Geary said. "We're hoping we'd do $80 million a year in net revenues" with slots. He said Ellis' purses would jump to $16 million in 2010, putting it on equal ground with his Indiana rivals. "We would add 300 new jobs year-round" at such a casino, Geary said.
By the time the first horses break from the starting gate at Ellis Park in mid-July, the General Assembly will have made its decision and Geary will have a clue as to the future of his struggling little racetrack. "We are open this summer, no matter what."
But if the legislation fails, Geary said Ellis Park will cease operations after Labor Day. "We just wouldn't be able to make it," he said. "If it doesn't pass the legislature, we'll have a fine, celebratory final meet."