The owners of the state’s two horse-racing tracks expressed misgivings and strong concerns Monday about Gov. Tim Walz’s appointment of two tribal leaders to the Minnesota Racing Commission.
Late Friday, Walz appointed Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe chief executive Melanie Benjamin and Johnny Johnson, former president of the Prairie Island Indian Community. Both tribes run casinos in MInnesota.
“The Racing Commission’s job is to regulate the industry and our two leaders, President Johnson and Chief Executive Benjamin are more familiar than probably anybody in the state on the regulation of gambling,” Walz said, referring to them as “two good folks” who “understand that responsibility.”
The state’s two horse-racing tracks, Canterbury Park in Shakopee and Running Aces in Columbus, were not pleased. In recent years, the struggling tracks have been pushing to offer additional gambling options to their customers as a means of survival and to boost the purses for live racing.
“We do not believe it is appropriate for competitors of the racetracks to serve in the role of our regulators, and it would be difficult to find a precedent for the recent appointments of long-time leaders of tribal nations that own two of the state’s largest casino operations as members of the Minnesota Racing Commission,” Canterbury Park CEO Randy Sampson said in a written statement.
Taro Ito, president and CEO at Running Aces, called the appointments “a slap in the face to the Minnesota horse racing industry and the thousands of people employed in this $500-plus million a year agricultural sector.”
Ito said Benjamin and Johnson run casinos that compete with the tracks and they lack horse racing experience. He said they replace two commissioners with “extensive equine and racetrack operational experience.”
Neither Benjamin nor Johnson returned phone calls Monday. Both will serve terms beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2029. The positions are not paid, but they receive $55 per day for the work.