Spokane Horse Players Left In Cold Playfair Won’t Serve As Betting Site When Auburn Track Opens Thursday At 2:30

The long-awaited opening of Emerald Downs, the country’s newest thoroughbred race track, will go off Thursday without a Spokane audience.

An official at Playfair Race Course said that, as contractual matters stand, the Spokane track will not serve as an off-track betting site when Thursday’s inaugural race at Emerald Downs is conducted.

First post, in front of an on-site audience expected to approach 20,000, is 2:30.

Western Washington has been without a race track since the 1992 closure of Longacres in Renton.

Kim Rich, general manager at Playfair, referred questions to Phil Ziegler, director of off-track betting at the Muckleshoot Tribal Casino in Auburn.

But the general manager at Emerald Downs, Marie Conley, told the Valley Daily News in Kent that an agreement with Playfair or Yakima Meadows is unlikely.

The Muckleshoot tribe - for the record - has yet to formally apply for a license from the state racing commission to operate Playfair.

“They continue to indicate that they are working on one and will file it,” said racing commission executive secretary Bruce Batson. “I have every reason to believe they will, but it’s taking a while.”

“We haven’t filed yet, but don’t take that as a negative,” said Ziegler. “It doesn’t mean we’re walking away. We’re still committed to preserving live racing in Spokane.”

The issue for now is not live racing, but Spokane as an off-track site. Without the Spokane area, the economic health of the business of kings in Washington state suffers. No Spokane means a lower state-wide betting handle.

“That’s disconcerting to everybody,” Batson said.

Muckleshoot officials have refused to sign a contract with Emerald Downs that would cut their percentage of the wagering take at their off-track betting sites at the tribal casino in Auburn from 4 percent to .5 percent.

Ziegler said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the tribe agreeing to those terms to resume off-track betting at its Casino in Auburn.

That still leaves Yakima and Spokane without off-track betting.

“You just can’t open the doors of a race track for that (.5 percent),” Ziegler said.

The question Tuesday was whether an alternative off-track betting site in the Spokane area will be established, should Emerald and Playfair officials fail to reach agreement.

“That’s hard to answer right now,” Batson said.

Bottom line: Barring an unlikely agreement, Spokane fans will drive if they want to take in racing at the new track.

Yakima Meadows is likewise excluded in Emerald Downs’ off-track betting network.

Among the track’s 21 confirmed off-track wagering sites as of Tuesday were the following Eastern and Central Washington locations: El Papaguyo’s Restaurant, Moses Lake; Bridge Street Connection, Clarkston; Bruce’s Steak House, Kennewick; Buzz Inn Steak House, East Wenatchee; and the Whitman Inn, Walla Walla.

, DataTimes