THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510280305
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Two local legislators are trying to head off potential efforts to open off-track betting parlors in Virginia until a state-approved racing oval is up and running.
And since the state's one approved horse track in New Kent County is tied up in court for at least another year, the future of potentially lucrative betting parlors in the Old Dominion could rest with the whims of the next legislature.
State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, are co-sponsoring code amendments that would prohibit OTB parlors from opening anywhere in Virginia, if so-called ``tent'' races, or makeshift competitions, were staged.
Present law is ambiguous on the point, contends Stolle. He opposes a recent Virginia Racing Commission move to grant the one licensed state track operator - Colonial Downs of Ohio - to open a betting parlor at a defunct supermarket in the Deep Creek section of Chesapeake. The Ohio group was selected last year by the racing commission to build and operate the state's first and only parimutuel track and to run up to six off-track betting sites.
``We don't want tent-track racing, we want (Virginia) horsemen to be protected and we don't want OTBs before a track opens,'' Stolle said.
But the concerns of Stolle and Croshaw may be off target, said Don Price, racing commission executive director, since state law allows the licensed state track operator to have six off-track betting sites. So far, he said, the commission has approved only one site and that is in Chesapeake.
In addition, said Price, Colonial Downs has applied for two sites in Hampton and one in Richmond, but these have not yet been approved.
State law mandates that an OTB parlor must be in operation within one year of its licensing date - in this case August 1996 - or forfeit its pact, Price explained.
He discounted fears expressed by local legislators that Colonial Downs had planned to open a temporary horse track operation .
``There has been talk of them operating a temporary meet, using tents and portable barns for horses and such, but Colonial Downs has never made a formal request to the racing commission,'' Price said, adding: ``And we would have to give them permission. Each year they would have to get permission to hold live races for the next year, so they can't race unless we approve it.''
This applies to even a so-called tent tract, he insisted.
A move by Colonial Downs to scout out a prospective betting parlor site in Virginia Beach faltered this year when negotiations with management of the Clarion Hotel-Pembroke, a Bonney Road inn, ran into corporate resistance. Steve Lunceford, a spokesman for Manor Care Hotels, the parent company, said company officials feel the betting parlor would be incompatible with present hotel operations.
``We just didn't think it was conducive to the type of business they have there,'' he said.
Colonial Downs has applied for a building permit to renovate the old Earle's Market on George Washington Highway in Chesapeake, but little work has been done on the property, said Susan Cooley, who handles business license applications for the Chesapeake Commissioner of Revenue. Meanwhile, her office staff is reviewing requests to operate satellite businesses at the location, such as a restaurant and bar, she added.
While licensing for OTB parlors in Hampton and Richmond awaits racing commission approval, specific locations in these localities have yet to be picked, said Arnold Stansley, president of Colonial Downs. Since the Virginia Beach hotel deal fell through, the city is no longer in contention for a betting parlor site, he said.
Stansley had promised to have his New Kent County racing oval built and operating by December, but pending court action has halted its progress.
An appeal filed last year by the Virginia Jockey Club, one of the five losing race track competitors, rests before the state Court of Appeals, where it is likely to remain for 14 months or more. Basically, Stansley conceded, the appeal has stymied efforts by Colonial Downs to raise $40 million in private capital through a bond issue.
According to Stolle, seeing the track opening pushed back may have prompted Colonial Downs to pursue the start-up of a makeshift race operation as a prelude to opening off-track betting parlors in the state.
Despite his admonitions, said Stolle, the racing commission granted Colonial Downs permission to open the first of its six allotted betting parlors in Chesapeake.
``This summer I contacted the racing commission and said this would violate the law, but they said Stansley would comply with the law,'' Stolle said. ``I said if they pursued this course I would submit legislation to limit their action. They went ahead and granted an OTB in August to Chesapeake.
``My concern is that if you can't trust the commission to enforce the OTB law, why should I trust them to enforce the other laws?'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Glenn R. Crowshaw
Kenneth W. Stolle
KEYWORDS: OFF TRACK BETTING VIRGINIA STATE RACING COMMISSION by CNB