Changes begin for Remington Park
BY RANDY ELLIS
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Published: October 16, 2009
The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission meeting buzzed with excitement Thursday as the new owners of Remington Park outlined a series of improvements planned to restore opulence to the Oklahoma City racetrack and casino.
Actually, the improvements already have begun, said
John Elliott, chief executive officer of
Global Gaming Solutions RP, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Chickasaw Nation that bought the track recently in a
Magna Entertainment Corp. bankruptcy auction.
Global Gaming has a license application pending before the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission and company officials hope to obtain the license before the end of December.
Normally, a track buyer would wait until its license is approved before making improvements. However, Elliott said the new owners were so concerned about the deteriorated condition of surveillance equipment at the track that they obtained special approval from the commission’s executive director to make about $40,000 in improvements now to improve security.
Elliott told commissioners the new owners plan to make more improvements once the license has been issued.
About 300 of Remington Park’s 700 gaming machines will be upgraded or replaced with more popular games, Elliott said.
Bulky televisions will be replaced with flat screen versions, worn carpeting will be replaced and improvements will be made to corporate luxury boxes, Elliott said. The facade may also be updated, he said.
Elliott didn’t discuss the cost of anticipated upgrades with the commission, but he told
The Oklahoman previously he expects about $12 million in improvements to be made within the next three to four years, with perhaps $5 million to $8 million of those improvements the first year.
Longer term, Elliott said the Chickasaw Nation is looking forward to working with local officials to possibly get a hotel built and make other improvements to make that part of Oklahoma City a destination area.
In response to questions, Global Gaming attorney
Randall Calvert assured commissioners the track owner will be subject to state and federal laws and will not attempt to use its tribal link to exercise sovereign immunity. Legal documents were written to avoid that, he said.
Representatives of horsemen’s groups and the commission alike said they are pleased Remington Park is finally going to have an in-state owner.
"This is certainly going to be a major change that everybody is going to benefit from,” said
Debbie Schauf, executive director of the
Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association. "That facility has been in bad need of improvements for so many years. It’s always had out-of-state ownership so the money has just gone out of state. This is certainly going to be good for Oklahoma.”
"This is very exciting for
Oklahoma horse racing,” said
Patrick Grimmett, chairman of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission.
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Parking lot security has been a problem for months, it's just now becoming newsworthy. New owners need to hire their own thugs to "take back the house".