Ruffin
If the Kansas Legislature expands slot machine gambling in the spring, a Las Vegas casino owner will buy and reopen the mothballed The Woodlands Racetrack in Wyandotte County.
Phillip Ruffin, a former Wichita resident, said Monday that his option on the dog and horse track is good until the end June.
“We will not close on the deal unless we get gaming,” he said in a telephone interview. “Slots are imperative to get that thing going.”
He said the Legislature would consider the proposal, but he declined to predict a timetable for seeing the measure introduced.
Ruffin Gaming has owned the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for two years, he said.
Ruffin said the company plans to own all three Kansas parimutuel racetracks if the state approves casino gambling at the sites. He also owns Wichita Greyhound Park.
The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission revoked licenses for all three tracks in June after years of inactivity at the sites, commission General Counsel Patrick Martin said. The commission had postponed final action against the tracks beginning in about 2008, when The Woodlands closed while the owners lobbied the Legislature for permission to install slot machines, Martin said.
Ruffin said The Woodlands had $7 million in annual operational losses under previous management.
“Parimutuel is not a viable business without slots,” he said. “The proliferation of casino gambling has really hurt that business.”
The Woodlands’ current owner, Howard Grace of W.M. Grace Cos., could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.
Ruffin said that reopening the Kansas City track on its 400 acres would provide jobs, draw visitors to the region and stimulate local demand for agricultural products required by racehorses, such as feed, hay and bedding.
He's said previously that adding slots to Wichita Greyhound Park also would stimulate the economy. He told the Wichita Business Journal in 2009 that if slot machines were allowed there, he would spend $20 million to improve the park and it would employ 300.
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