Montana horse racing out of business
Montana Entertainment LLC, the company that was responsible for the revival of horse racing in Missoula is out of business.
Montana had given two days of horse racing to Missoula in August. It ended up owing $33,000 to the state racing commission. To the embarrassment of Montana, it could not come up with the required amount and agreed to pay a sum of $22,000 to the state.
An agreement was signed between Eric Spector, who is the chief operating officer of Montana Entertainment, and Al Carruthers, the chairman of the Montana Board of Horse Racing. According to this agreement the company has to leave behind routers around the
state at the six simulcast sites that it ran.
The agreement also states that Montana will endeavor “in good faith” to pay back the due amount to the creditors by the time specified by the commission in the agreement. It also states that the company will contact the creditors itself for the fulfillment
of this obligation.
One creditor of Montana Entertainment is Missoula County. The company owes the Western Montana Fair an amount of approximately $10,000. Montana had taken the services of the Fair to upgrade the deteriorating conditions of the race-track for the 13 August
to 14 August meet.
Cascade County is another creditor to which the company owes an amount of $30,000. This amount is due because of debts accrued by the Great Falls track, where races have been held consecutively for the last two summers by Spector’s group.
The decision by the commission was reached after the seven-member board deliberations that took more than three hours. The debate was taking place to decide if the company’s settlement offer should be accepted or Spector’s license to operate in the state
should be revoked.
In the end, Spector had to surrender his license in response to increased pressure from the horsemen’s associations external to Montana. The ability of Montana sites to carry simulcast signals of the famous Breeder’s Cup weekend. Spector was not available
for comment on Monday.
Some time ago in an interview, Spector had the following statement to make: “The state and I have been reviewing expansion plans for the OTBs now for a year and a half. During that time all of us got hit with probably one of the worst economies since the
Great Depression."
Spector confesses that a state agency would be in a better position to grow simulcast in Montana as compared to a private enterprise. The board members of the commission also point out that live tracks operating in the state obtain a substantial amount of
earnings of simulcast.
"When we both reviewed it with each other, it felt as though the best thing that could happen for the state would be to allow it to operate those facilities. We agreed to help them with that transition immediately," Spector said.
Presently, the license has been transmitted to the state.
"It's going to be an exciting venture," Sherman said. "We're one of the first regulatory boards in the nation that has kind of taken control of the simulcast network. We're in a unique spot, and it's going to be interesting to see how we grow it."
However, the future of Missoula is still uncertain with Montana gone from the scene. The company was the first one to be able to hold a racing event since 2006, bringing the attendance up by 45% relative to the previous year and resulting in an estimated
$245,000 in pari-mutuel handle.
Steve Earle, the director of new fairgrounds, has a hopeful attitude about the whole affair: “I'm going to do everything I can to work closely with the commissioners to find a way to bring back racing again. No matter what, from a business standpoint, it's
extremely clear the impact racing had on the Western Montana Fair."
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