The Olds Ag Society is confident it can find investors and proceed with land acquisition for a racetrack casino while the province's moratorium on casino licences remains in effect, the group's general manager says."We did meet with a group of investors one week ago today and they were very knowledgeable and very aware of the situation, and they did not seem deterred by the discussion," Tami Gardner told the Gazette Friday, adding that the potential investors were based out of the Edmonton area."We are not deviating from the objectives and goals of the business plan," Gardner said. "Because it is a five-year projection, we don't feel present-day challenges will necessarily deter us from going forward."OAS is proposing to relocate its facilities from Olds to the northeast quadrant of the Olds overpass, where it would also build a 100-room/suite hotel, restaurant, convention centre, racetrack and 120-slot casino on land currently owned by Alberta Transportation.Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission spokeswoman Christine Ronko confirmed earlier this month that the proposed 120-slot racino complex would fall under the ALGC moratorium."There is a deferral on all gaming licences, indefinitely," Ronko said."The AGLC board has deferred all gaming facility applications since 2008."A proposed racino complex at CrossIron Mills was one of two applications approved before the 2008 deferral, so that its licence is grandfathered and still valid. The other is held by the Louis Bull Tribe at Hobbema.United Horsemen of Alberta was working under a Feb. 1 deadline to buy back 82 acres the group had sold to CrossIron Mills developer Ivanhoe Cambridge to pay off outstanding debt."While we still have at least two or three months to write them a cheque, the reality is that our window of opportunity is drawing to a close," UHA said March 2 on its website. "We cannot build a track on the land that we still own as the barns and a major road are in the way."Despite that constraint, the group said it is in final negotiations with a "tangible" joint venture partner and expects the project to go forward."It is proceeding and it is real," the update said. "Given the amount of time and money that the potential partner has spent (and continues to spend) they are onboard. Now we have to discuss the merits of the project with their lenders and investors ... We really have no way of knowing when we will get an answer from our partner. It could happen as early as next week or even into early April. We realize how frustrating that is for the industry."The group said it needs to raise between $60 million and $100 million "in equity and debt" for the project, and that investment had dried up from 2008 to the middle of last year.Last week, Calgary CBC interviewed members of the horse racing community who expressed disappointment with the progress of the UHA proposal.Alberta currently has three racino complexes ñ at Evergreen Park outside Grande Prairie, Northlands Park in Edmonton and Whoop-Up Downs in Lethbridge.
