Commissioners approve Wyoming Downs

The Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) started the new year off at the tracks as they approved a resolution for pari mutuel wagering to operate in the county during their January 5 meeting.

Resolution 2021-03, which was approved by a vote of 4-1, gave approval to Wyoming Downs, LLC (Wyoming Downs) to conduct pari mutuel wagering on live horse racing, historic horse racing and simulcast events at bars within Carbon County. Terminals for the pari mutuel wagering and simulcast events would be placed in 21 and over establishments alongside skill games, which appeared seemingly unannounced in 2018.

The Board of Sweetwater County Commissioners approved an identical resolution during their December 15, 2020 meeting and the Board of Campbell County Commissioners were approached by Wyoming Downs in September 2020. The Wyoming Downs website lists several locations throughout the state including Gillette, Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs and Sheridan.

Carbon County Attorney Ashley Mayfield-Davis spoke with the BOCCC prior to their phone call with Jill Jarrard, public relations speculation for Wyoming Downs, about her conversation with Charles Moore, executive director of the Wyoming Gaming Commission.

According to Mayfield-Davis, while skill games were permitted by the gaming commission and limited in the amount of games, the resolution before the county commissioners would allow Wyoming Downs to set-up in any bar in the county.

“So the (county) commission has the ability to approve them to come into Carbon County. They (Wyoming Downs) would then have to go to owners of bars or restaurants to get their permission and to reach some kind of agreement with them. They will also have to receive a permit from the gaming commission. So, they need your approval and gaming commission permits,” said Mayfield-Davis. “You can limit the number, you can require them to specify locations. None of that is in the proposed resolution that Wyoming Downs has submitted.”

Mayfield-Davis further informed the BOCCC that a percentage of the money generated from the peri mutuel wagering would go to the county and the municipality in which the establishment was located.

“If I remember correctly, it’s one percent of the wagered amount. Half of it goes to the city, half would go to the county if it’s in city limits. If it’s outside of city limits, one percent would go to the county,” Mayfield-Davis said. “There’s a portion of that that goes to the State as well.”

According to information on the Wyoming Gaming Commission’s website, pari mutuel wagering, specifically historic horse betting, had generated $24 million in revenue for municipalities in the state since 2013. Additionally, more than $2.8 million had been generated between January 2020 and June 2020.

“It is really groundbreaking, it’s not something that’s been done before and that seems to be where a lot of the questions stem from,” said Jarrard. “We’ve learned a lot going forward with this. We’re working closely with the gaming commission.”

Jarrard informed the BOCCC that they were only required to give approval to Wyoming Downs to operate within the county while the Wyoming Gaming Commission would be the final approval when it came to site operations.

“We’re held to really rigorous standards. We turn in everything from our security detail to the licensing and training of staff that’s on site at each one of these locations, blueprints, handicap accessibility,” Jarrard said. “We put in every location what’s called an NRT machine and an NRT machine is just a fancy ATM. It basically pays out winning tickets, so it’s a cashless system. We don’t have bartenders or bar owners handling cash or refilling those machines.”

Jarrard added that, while Wyoming Downs had been seeking approval from county commissioners and had placed four terminals in Casper, they had not yet turned any of them on. 

“Some of you are familiar, maybe, with the skills game that came in a couple years ago and placed machines throughout the state. There’s a lot of those machines in your county up and running without commissioners approval and we don’t want to do that,” said Jarrard. “We want to work with the gaming commission and with each municipality and make sure that we’re operating in a legal and safe manner and that you’re comfortable with us.”

While the commissioners voted to approve the resolution, with Commissioner Byron Barkhrust dissenting, Katye Brown of Woodhouse Roden Nethercott, LLC requested to provide public comment on the resolution. Brown, who represents Cowboy Skill Games, stated that by approving a blanket resolution the BOCCC was going about the process improperly and pointed to the Wyoming Gaming Commissions own rules (https://gaming.wyo.gov/rules), specifically Chapter 10 which covers simulcasting and the requirements to provide such a service.

One of those requirements is a feasibility study that includes the expected revenue earnings, a drawing of the proposed enclosure and placement of terminals, the level of attendance, the level of anticipated wagering and more.

“After all of this is done, Section 3(d) of the rules states that final approval of this facility would then go to the county commissioners, said Brown. “By offering a blanket approval before having any of this information, you’re giving Wyoming Downs, essentially, a green light to go anywhere in the county that they want with no recourse to you .”

Brown added that it was the belief of her and her clients that the BOCCC approving such a resolution, without public comment or input, was denying residents of Carbon County due process. Mayfield-Davis followed Brown by stating that the implementation of the pari mutuel wagering was a two-part process, the first of which required county commissioner approval.

“The second is to go get a permit or license to operate and the locations will have to be determined at that time,” said Mayfield-Davis. “In order to receive that license, there will be have to be approval from the gaming commission, not the Board of County Commissioners.”

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on January 19 at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.