Developer closes operations

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Las Vegas developer Eric Nelson has shut down the off-track betting operations at the Playfair Race Course in a dispute over live horse racing scheduled later this year.

Shortly before returning to his Las Vegas home Tuesday, Nelson announced what he termed "a cooling-off period."

Nelson spent Monday and Tuesday in Spokane in talks with the leaders of the Organization to Preserve Horse Racing in the Inland Northwest, which represents area horsemen, and the Pring family's Appleway Leasing Corp., which owns the track and its real estate.

Nelson, a real estate agent and gaming property developer, signed a 10-year lease-option deal on the track almost one year ago. He and OPHRN struggled for months over a contract.

After months of disagreement, Nelson and OPHRN struck a one-year deal in January. But he wants a long-term agreement to ensure that the track, idle for all but one year since 1997, will have a future.

Negotiations for an extended contract will not take place until after OPHRN elects a new board later this year.

"We're in kind of a 14-day cooling off period to see if we can bring the Prings and the horsemen to the negotiating table," Nelson said.

Nelson has asked the horsemen to give up their share of the income during the live meet, scheduled for this fall, according to OPHRN President Jan Bosequette of Spokane.

"We felt his demands were more than we could give," Boseqeutte said.