West Meadows Raceway Inc. (Regina) has filed a statement of claim against the Saskatchewan Liquor & Gaming Authority for government negligence, misfeasance, and favouritism.

The claim is for general damages resulting from lost Home Market Area revenue, and special damages for time and money spent to develop the Regina track (which is now closed due to withdrawn SLGA support).

A statement from West Meadows Raceway appears below.

Our group is a group of hard working citizens who have spent significant time and money to build this track and a future for the harness racing community in Saskatchewan, and were encouraged by our government to do so. This only to be treated unfairly and denied the very rightful license needed to ensure its ongoing success.

We have tried to work with them to return the Home Market Area licenses to the areas once set and agreed upon by both Regina & Saskatoon racetrack operators. Had they issued as done previously, both tracks would have been given a fair area, and the same opportunity to successfully run their own businesses.

SLGA giving Prairieland Park (Saskatoon) the sole license to earn all off-track betting revenues in the same area as the Regina track just isn’t right. Nowhere else in this country would that be tolerated. It is a government that has repeatedly showed favouritism towards the Saskatoon operator, and we feel that the courts should be made aware of the discrimination, and that SLGA should be held accountable.

The fair decision would have cost the government nothing, just a signature on a license that would have granted West Meadows Raceway Inc. an equal opportunity. SLGA is picking winners and losers, deciding which business will fail and which business will succeed. Their position should be to issue the licenses in a fair manner and to regulate the industry, not to influence with preference and favour who gets the license and who does not.

(with files from West Meadows Raceway Inc.)