Ruffin racing against time to keep track license

Last Update: 7/01 5:34 pm

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WICHITA, Kansas – The Wichita Greyhound Park hasn’t lost the race to keep its license just yet despite being closed for almost two years. Wednesday the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission extended the deadline to pull the license until July 21^st. But that leaves the park’s owner scrambling to buy even more time.

For 18 years the Wichita Greyhound Park was up and running. Now it sits quiet and vacant. But the decision to hold off pulling the track’s license leaves hope it could once again be open for business.

“That's good news,” said Phil Ruffin, owner of the Wichita Greyhound Park. “If they were going to take it, they could have taken it.”

And they still could at the commissioner’s meeting July 17^th in Anthony. The burden now falls on billionaire owner Phil Ruffin.

“The order that came down last December required them to present a plan to the commission to get the track back up and running,” said Michael Deines, director of communications for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission.

Ruffin’s plan is to get slot machines back on the ballot – a measure he says went down because of confusing language and the timing of the downtown casino vote. But that would require a much longer extension since lawmakers don’t return to Topeka until next year.

“We're probably a few votes short now, but I think the governor's behind it,” Ruffin said.

But Ruffin contends his hope of re-opening the track isn’t fueled by dollar signs. Some 200 people lost their jobs when the track was forced to close its doors.

“There would not be a lot of profit in it,” Ruffin said. “It's just that some of those employees were there since 1987. It would be a jobs thing.”

For now, the park continues to face long odds. But Ruffin’s not ready to give up the race to put the park back in Park City.

Voters approved slot machines for Ruffin’s track in Frontenac, but that track is also closed. He’s lobbying lawmakers to give him a bigger percentage of money made from those machines.

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