TMB Racing filed a legal petition in Josephine County Circuit Court alleging the Oregon Racing Commission is stalling the company’s efforts to license historical horse racing terminals.
As first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, TMB Racing is building a facility in Grants Pass, Oregon, near the Grants Pass Downs racetrack. The track and TMB Racing are owned by Travis Boersma, co-founder and CEO of Dutch Bros. Coffee.
TMB’s plan is to place 225 historical horse racing terminals in the new venue, to be called The Flying Lark. However, the development has attracted protests from the tribes that operate casinos in the Beaver State, including to the state’s governor, Kate Brown.
Several months after TMB’s license applications were submitted, the Oregon Racing Commission still has not acted, which led to the filing of the petition.
The inaction by the Commission “may be a result of waiting for the Oregon Department of Justice to advise on a handful of legal claims that some Oregon tribes have advanced about HHR wagering,” the petition said in part.
TMB Racing goes on to assert the historical racing machines it plans to install at The Flying Lark involve players wagering against each other, not the house. In addition, the petition notes some 150 similar terminals were installed at Portland Meadows from 2015 to 2019, and the Oregon Racing Commission did not block those.
Several tribes sent a letter to Gov. Brown in October, saying terminal technology has expanded in the past two years, and the large number of machines planned for The Flying Lark would make it a private casino – a violation of state law.
Neither the Oregon Department of Justice nor the Oregon Racing Commission have issued a public comment in response to the petition.
