Racing to Rawlins

Place your bets!

More than a year after granting approval to Wyoming Downs, LLC (Wyoming Downs), the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) have granted approval to yet another horse racing business to set up shop in the county. While Wyoming Downs has yet to secure any location in the county, another company appears ready to establish their fourth location in Rawlins.

Kyle Ridgeway, CFO of 307 Horse Racing, Inc. appeared before the commissioners at their March 15 meeting along with CEO Jack Greer regarding a resolution for the company to conduct pari-mutuel wagering, historic horse racing and simulcast events within the county. The resolution, Resolution 2022-12, is just one of several steps 307 Horse Racing is required to do before opening their location at 310 W. Cedar Street in Rawlins, which formerly housed the restaurant, Three Fiddlers.

“What the resolution’s going to outline is you all, the commission, have to grant us the approval to be here on a per-site basis,” said Ridgeway. “So, the resolution includes the address in which we’re planning to go to here in Rawlins and the activities that would be taking place in that facility. We have to get that approval from you and that’s part of our application to the Wyoming Gaming Commission to complete our opening of that facility here.”

While the resolution would give permission from the BOCCC for 307 Horse Racing to operate in Carbon County, Ridgeway noted a number of steps still needed to be completed by the company. These included appearing before the City of Rawlins and final approval from the Wyoming Gaming Commission.

It should be noted, a similar resolution for Wyoming Downs passed in January 2021 by the BOCCC did not specify which locations that company would be placing terminals. Carbon County Attorney Ashley Mayfield-Davis informed the commissioners the company would need to approach the owners of each bar or restaurant about hosting their terminals. The broad resolution in 2021 was criticized by Katye Brown of Woodhouse Roden Nethercott, LLC who represented Cowboy Skill Games.

Ridgeway informed the commissioners 307 Horse Racing would be a benefit to both the county and the city of Rawlins for multiple reasons. Under Wyoming Law, one percent of the total wagered amount, or handle, each year is returned to the county and the municipality. Half of the revenue would go to the county and half to Rawlins. According to Ridgeway, it was estimated a total of $150,000 to $200,000 would be generated in tax revenue. Split evenly, $75,000 to $100,000 would go to each local entity.

The CFO estimated the Rawlins location for 307 Horse Racing would require five to seven employees to operate the facility. According to Ridgeway, those jobs would be fully benefited with health insurance and retirement plans due to 307 Horse Racing being a subsidiary of Wyoming Employee Resource Capital and Services (WERCS).

WERCS, formerly known as Wyoming Financial Insurance, was acquired by HUB International in April 2021. It was around that time the company partnered with 307 Horse Racing and Greer.

“Our concept was, we believed in Jack and Randy’s vision for this company which was, you link the money from these historic horse-racing locations to the live horse-racing industry. Last year we took almost a million dollars of our own money and put it up as purse money for 16 live-event horse race days at the Camplex in Gillete,” said Ridgeway. “Every year thereafter, that purse money is going to continue to go up because these gaming locations generate the income which lets you support the live racetrack.”

Both Ridgeway and Greer highlighted the Wyoming-roots of the company. According to Greer, he was not only a fifth-generation Wyoming resident, but was the fifth-generation to be involved in horse racing. He went on to briefly describe his experience with horse racing in Wyoming following the Wyoming Legislature’s approval of historic horse racing and simulcast events in 2013. Prior to that approval, according to Greer, the annual handle generated in Wyoming was $500,000. Seven years later, in 2019, that number had skyrocketed to $800 million.

“Live race days did not go up as proportioned and neither did the purse money. As a horseman, being on the other end of the business, it was frustrating to see these companies come in here and, basically, it was an extraction of money out of the state of Wyoming and it was not being sent where it was supposed to go,” said Greer. “The intention of our company is, specifically, to make sure, as 307 Horse Racing, we keep the money in Wyoming and we keep a bulk of that money going back to the live horse racing industry.”

Resolution 2022-12 passed unanimously.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on April 5 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins, Wyoming.