It’s an ordinary weekday at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and despite the biting weather, the parking lot is loaded past the second lot. Icy barbs ping the pavement and leave frosty traces on the shuttle bus turning its endless loops outside. Those that don’t hop aboard—who elect to traipse from their car to the front door tinged with neon—are bundled and hunched against the cold. But still, they come.
Inside, there’s no hint of the blustery weather, no trace of the howling wind. The rain outside doesn’t stand a chance against the chattering regiments of brightly-lit machines. It could be eighty in the shade or rain four feet high and risin’, and you’d never know it. In here, it’s always a perfect sixty-eight degrees, with the forecast for a sunny tomorrow right around the corner.
Times are good at Oaklawn. And when voters overwhelmingly approved Issue 4 last fall, a measure to allow casino gaming in the state, none showed the fruits of that measure more immediately than the state’s foremost racing and gaming institution. Less than two weeks after the election, Oaklawn executives unveiled a $100 million-plus expansion to include a 200-room, high-rise hotel, 14,000-square-foot event center and expanded gaming area.
Louis Cella, president of the Oaklawn Jockey Club, and a legacy who can trace his family’s leadership of Oaklawn to its founding in 1904 called the project “a new chapter” in the storied entertainment complex, one that even predated Issue 4.
“While one may assume that today’s announcement comes in response to the passage of Issue 4 on November 6, we actually began planning for this during our last expansion in 2014,” Louis told a crowd during the project’s November 19 unveiling. “Our goal then, as it is now, is to use a quality gaming experience to enhance racing and help attract even more great champions to Arkansas.
“As we enhance the entertainment experience for our customers, we will also further elevate thoroughbred racing and help make Arkansas and Hot Springs even stronger regional tourism destinations.”
In fact, Oaklawn had already made headlines in advance of the November elections with the announcement that it would lengthen its 2019 live season, racing into May. It was a move that many tracks around the country could only dream of.
“Oaklawn has one of the best models in the entire country of racing and gaming working well together,” said Jennifer Hoyt, media relations manager. “You go to any other racetrack that has gaming, and their grandstands are empty. Here, we pack them in.”
In fact, despite a less-than-ideal weather year, Oaklawn reported record-setting wagering for its two premier race days that pushed the total handle for the season up eleven percent. April fourteenth’s Arkansas Derby saw a total handle of $16.2 million, easily outpacing the former record, 2000’s $15.1 million. Equally impressive, the Rebel Stakes’ $10.8 million total handle represented the highest single non-Derby day’s wagering in the track’s history.
“We have probably the most aggressive stakes schedule of any other racetrack that’s preparing horses for the Kentucky Derby,” Jennifer says. “We have four stakes starting with our Smarty Jones on opening day. We have raised the purse of our Rebel Stakes to $1 million, so that gives us two $1 million Kentucky Derby preps. The horses that you see here are going to be the ones you hear about in the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and The Belmont Stakes.”
Oaklawn expects the increasing numbers of fans, particularly those motivated to gamble, to flow from the ponies to the tables. While gaming and racing fans have traditionally represented two distinct clienteles, that trend appears to be changing. Throw in the soon-to-be-built on-site accommodations, spa, dining and event space to host big-name entertainment, and there will be little that people can’t see or do here.
“I think a lot of it is, we offer a full entertainment package. You can come here for the races and then you can come into the gaming side and have live music Thursday through Saturday nights,” Jennifer says. “We have the restaurant options as well. So, people are making that transition, they’re not just leaving and pouring out [after the races].”
Construction on the expanded gaming area and new hotel will begin at the completion of the 2019 racing season and is expected to be done in 2020. The new amenities, funded entirely with private money, are expected to generate around 400 new jobs. Other improvements will begin to appear for the gaming side of the house even sooner.
“Now we won’t have to say ‘Vegas-style games’ anymore because we will actually have craps, we will actually have blackjack,” Jennifer says. “That is going to happen as early as April or May of this year. That’s an exciting thing for us.”
Oaklawn operates day and night, rain or shine, construction or no construction. Jennifer says that also goes for the months ahead when the improvements are in full swing and for that, the complex has planned accordingly.
“We began the first phase (of construction) in the end of 2008, completed that right before the 2010 racing season,” she says. “Then we had another expansion that began at the end of 2014, and we opened in 2015. So, this the third time that we’ve had a major construction project going on throughout the summer.”
“Our goal is that yes, the construction will be happening, and the parking lot will have a lot of things going on, but our guests will not be inconvenienced. This past summer we did a lot of things in preparation. We repaired the parking lot, we added shuttles. The guests will come in, they’ll find the shuttles, they will still find the same great service once they get in.”
Similar forethought has gone into planning for the racing season as it now extends into potentially hotter weather, namely, industrial ceiling fans and expanded air conditioning in the grandstands. Another perk that long-timers will notice is the creation of a winner’s circle.
“For the first time in the 115-year history of Oaklawn, horses are actually going to return to a dedicated winner’s circle,” Jennifer says. “We’ve always had one in the infield for all of our stakes winners, but in the past, if you just won an everyday race, you came back to the track to the main area, and you stayed on the track to get your picture taken.”
For everything that is changing and will continue to change at Oaklawn, some of the best are still here, such as the accessible paddock for viewing mounts, the helpful red-coated employees and, most of all, the legendary corned beef sandwiches. But as the looped presentations on the casino monitors attest, what lies ahead is unprecedented in the company’s history, grand improvements that will tow the entire city of Hot Springs in its wake.
“Hot Springs only has a population of 36,000, but I think because of the jobs you’ll see Hot Springs grow,” Jennifer says. “We’ll probably have people from all over the country applying for our jobs. There’s going to be that many positions that are going to be opening.”
“I think if Oaklawn hadn’t made the strides we’ve made to improve our business, I don’t think you would have seen the rebirth of Hot Springs. But because of our commitment to making things bigger and better, the other places in town see that the potential is there to grow.”
The 2019 racing season kicked off January 25 and runs through May 4.
OAKLAWN RACING AND GAMING
2705 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR
1.800.OAKLAWN
oaklawn.com
