A new venue for wagering on horse racing is working toward establishing a presence in Sweetwater County, and is one step closer thanks to approval from the Board of County Commissioners.
307 Horse Racing’s Vice President Kyle Ridgeway and CEO Jack Greer came before the county commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting to get approval to conduct pari-mutuel wagering on live horse racing, historic horse racing, and simulcast events. The company is looking to operate out of 1030 Dewar Drive in Rock Springs.
307 Horse Racing was founded a number of years ago “with the idea that we could actually have one of these historic horse racing businesses in Wyoming that was owned and operated by people that live here,” Ridgeway said.
The company believes in local control, according to Ridgeway. He noted that there have been past issues in Sweetwater County with the two other similar operators, which this group is not affiliated with.
Ridgeway explained that 307 Horse Racing is 100% Wyoming owned and operated, and they currently have eight locations around the state. He said they work closely with local counties, commissions, and law enforcement to maintain good relationships and stay in good standing.
Jordan Jenkins from Rock Springs spoke to the commissioners to add public comments on behalf of Jenkins Music, a local company that supplies items like pool tables and dart boards to local bars. Jenkins noted that the concern isn’t necessarily with 307 Horse Racing specifically, but that local bar owners and pool players are wondering “how far are we going to allow this to go for our community?” He said they don’t want to have too many mini casinos. Jenkins asked the commissioners to table 307 Horse Racing’s request in order to get more information on the impact to the community.
“I don’t believe it’s our role as elected officials to limit competition for the sake of protecting an existing business from a future business,” Chairman Island Richards said.
Richards also noted that commissioners can’t arbitrarily say no to a business that is statutorily allowed to operate, and that a previous commission tried to do so and the district court judge was clear that they couldn’t.
Chairman West also clarified that the legislature has authorized these types of facilities and that while the commission could approve or disapprove the request, they have to have specific reasons to deny a businesses’s request.
“We’re from here, we stand by our product,” Rideway said of 307 Horse Racing. “I know there’s a lot of confusion with skill games, which are a completely separate thing from us, which we have no affiliation with. There are three companies in this space. Two of them are out of state companies: Wyoming Horse Racing and Wyoming Downs. And then there’s us. And so sometimes we face a little bit of an uphill battle when we come into communities because they think that what we’re going to do is the same thing that these other folks have done, which hasn’t been the case in the communities that we’ve been in.”
Ridgeway added that their company works hard to make first-class establishments, and he believes their presence can help heal the industry and encourage other similar businesses to improve as well.
Currently the facility in Rock Springs is under contract for 307 Horse Racing. Having received approval from the commissioners, the group will need to obtain a liquor license from the City of Rock Springs and get approval from the Wyoming Gaming Commission.
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