Sunday, October 22, 2006

A roster of 130 "electronic games of skill" — with names such as Sizzling 7 's, Double Black Tie and White Hot Aces — met with Arkansas Racing Commission approval Monday for installation at the state's two pari-mutuel racetracks. The gambling games join seven others the commission accepted last month, for a total authorization of 137 variations of video poker, blackjack and Lock 'n Roll at the Oaklawn Park thoroughbred racetrack in Hot Springs and the Southland Park greyhound venue in West Memphis. Delivery of some machines will begin as early as this week. Both tracks plan grand openings for their "games of skill" Nov. 18, representatives of Southland and Oaklawn told commissioners during a conference-call meeting in Little Rock. As a prerequisite to gaining the commission's OK, the gambling games passed muster with New Jersey-based Gaming Laboratories International Inc., the consultant hired by the state to ensure that the devices conform to state regulations.
Most of the machines offer video poker or blackjack. But one, PokerPro Electronic Poker Game, simulates a table game of poker in which each player is dealt electronic cards on a video monitor. Lock ' n Roll is similar to video-poker games: After the machine's cylinders spin once, players can lock in one or two images before spinning again, said Danny Walker, administrator of the office of field audit for the electronic games of skill section of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. "They use different images — they may use numbers or they may use symbols — and the basis of the game is to match as many symbols as you can across the line you are playing, with the more items being better," Walker said.

Southland is undergoing a $ 40 million remodeling and renovation at the nearly 50-year-old track to make room for the new games. The track also added a nightclub and a buffet, Barry Baldwin, president of Southland Park greyhound track, said in a telephone interview after the meeting.

The track plans to install 819 electronic gambling machines and has already hired 244 new employees to help service the new gambling attraction, Baldwin said. The track will likely have a "soft opening" a week or so before the grand opening — or earlier if staff training is complete — to make sure everything is functioning properly, he said.

"It is much more in-depth training than anything we imagined," Baldwin said. "But it's looking good."

Oaklawn has submitted a proposal for 125 devices, with plans to add more machines as space becomes available after the 2007 live thoroughbredracing season, scheduled for Jan. 19-April 14.

Oaklawn also plans a "soft opening," a few weeks before the Nov. 18 grand opening, said Bobby Geiger, director of wagering and simulcast at the track.

A state law, Act 1151 of 2005, authorized special elections in Hot Springs and West Memphis on whether Southland and Oaklawn could seek Racing Commission approval for adding "electronic games of skill." Voters in both cities gave the tracks the go-ahead in elections last November.

Both the state law and Racing Commission regulations define the new gambling games as those "played through any electronic device or machine that afford [s ] an opportunity for the exercise of skill or judgment where the outcome is not completely controlled by chance alone."

Some residents of the tracks' home counties, Crittenden and Garland, filed postelection lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Act 1151. The Family Council Action Committee, a Little Rock-based anti-gambling group, supported the plaintiffs. The committee contends that "electronic games of skill" are slot machines and that the racetracks will become casinos after installing them.

Circuit judges in both counties rejected the lawsuits. The decision in Garland County was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

After the machines arrive, the microchips that operate the games will be sent to the Finance and Administration Department's games of skill section, Racing Commission manager Shelby McCook said.

State employees will deliver the microchips to the tracks, where representatives from Gaming Laboratories International and the game makers will install the chips in the machines, after which they will be tested to make sure they are operating properly, McCook said.

Commission regulations require that at least 83 percent of what is wagered in the new machines be paid back to gamblers, but both tracks expect their devices will be programmed to return more than 90 percent to be competitive with casinos in neighboring states.

The tracks will get 65 percent of what's left after payout. The remaining distribution of this "net wagering revenue" will be as follows: 18 percent to the state, 14 percent to prize purses, 1. 5 percent to the city in which the track is located, 0. 5 percent to the home county and 1 percent to the Racing Commission for promotion of thoroughbred or greyhound breeding.