An agreement between Canterbury Park and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (SMSC) expired at the end of the year, and the future of horse racing is definitely in flux.
The deal lasted 11 years and greatly helped increase purses for the horse racing track.
“On behalf of Minnesota’s horse industry and all of us at Canterbury Park, I thank the leaders and members of the SMSC for their commitment to racing over the past decade,” Canterbury Park said in a statement. “It is not an exaggeration to say that the purse enhancement agreement with the SMSC fueled a resurgence in Minnesota racing as our purses grew and national attention refocused on the quality of our racing.”
The tribe had contributed a total of $84 million in purses to the race track since the agreement in 2012. Last year, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the SMSC contributed nearly half the purses for the year.
Part of the agreement called for the race track to not try and get any other form of gambling, such as slot machines. That appeared to be one of the sticking points to the negotiations and one of the reasons a new deal could not be reached.
Still, Canterbury CEO Randy Sampson told the Star Tribune that he remains optimistic the two parties can work something out.
“There are opportunities for Canterbury and SMSC … to try to find ways to work together,” Sampson said. “I can’t say that there’s a specific plan in place, but I do believe that there are, in addition to how sports betting may or may not be implemented in Minnesota, there are other opportunities.”
In the meantime Sampson said he will try and find new ways to supplement the track’s purses.
“We’re just starting to formulate a plan,” Sampson said. “We haven’t been active at the legislature for the past 10 years because of the agreement. Our goal right now is to talk to legislators about the importance of horse racing to Minnesota, not necessarily with any specific legislation or agenda, but to build better awareness about our industry. There is uncertainty and challenges moving forward. But there’s excitement among our group as to what is next.”
