After trying to increase exposure to the product by attracting "synergy-type businesses", Hiawatha Horse Park's owner Jim Henderson is now forced back to the drawing board after being blindsided by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
in March.
"We started working on different projects on the property, the golf range, the go-kart racing, the driving range, we had a F1 cart range, ball diamonds, dirt bike racing, and we were starting to build new mini storage," Henderson told Trot Radio's Norm Borg. "We just thought, if each one of these items could make a little bit of money and draw more people to our property with the Bayfest camping and the Hiawatha Bash, the slot revenues would go up, the food and beverage goes up, the horse track goes up, and all the little synergies just seem to knit together."
Henderson was even approached by a hotel chain interested in building on the front of the property, but now that's all up in the air since the OLG shut down the slots at the Sarnia location just over one week ago. The decision, announced in March, came as a complete shock to Henderson.
"We didn't see this coming. Rod Phillips was here just a few months back and we asked him about the two sites in Sarnia and he said they were keeping business as planned. He never told us they were even looking at this and I guess this had been planned for I don't know how many months before."
What many people may not realize is that even though the OLG has told Hiawatha that cheques will still be issued to cover losses in slot revenue, that money in and of itself doesn't cover Hiawatha's operating costs.
"We think we're going to get cheques from OLG, we have no guarantee...we haven't seen any yet. Each week the cheque's supposed to come, but it doesn't cover the cost of running this plant. That cheque, without food and beverage, without all the rest of the business here does not cover horse racing. We always go in the red in the summertime to start with, and we don't have enough revenue coming through the door."
Henderson noted that simulcasting has been discussed with OHHA, but Henderson's not sure if that will help, thinking that he and the horsemen will have to come up with a "new plan".
"We've talked with Peter Core here in Sarnia ... they said they would support simulcasting, but that's not going to happen fast enough to get anything going. Plus there's so much product out there, how much are we going to bet on it anyway?"
Despite such a negative outlook, Henderson does not want to go the same route as Windsor, noting that "we don't want to close." To listen to the full interview with Henderson and Borg, click the play button below.
Episode 261 – Jim Henderson, owner of Hiawatha Horse Park
Audio Format: MP3 audio
Host: Norm Borg
Please note that the opinions expressed in the featured interview are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect Rideau Carleton Raceway and/or Standardbred Canada.