New Cardroom in Minnesota???

[Mansavage]

About a year ago there was a rumor circulating that a chariot racing track was going to be opened in the northers suburbs of Minneapolis, and a new card club would be opened with it.

Does anybody know the status of this? Is this still in the works or did the idea eventually die? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[StevieG]

North Metro Harness Initiative has pushed for a harness racetrack and cardroom in Anoka county, north of the Twin Cities (Canterbury is south of the Twin Cities). Mountaineer Race Track now has a controlling interest in the North Metro Harness Initiative.

The initial application was denied, but the Minnesota Racing Commission reconsidered. According to the MTR Web site the track is approved by the commission and up for "judicial review."

It is not clear if the cardroom is still part of the plan.

[Schneids]

What I've heard is they would have to have just a track with races for a year, before they could begin to operate a poker room. And most likely the track would go under and not survive for year two, meaning there'd never be a poker room.

[tek]

Don't hold your breath. Your options will be Hinckly, Mille Lacs or Canterbury for a long time.

[Mackie]

According to the Minnesota Harness Racing web page, the track should be open for business by 2007:

http://www.mnharness.com/

There is obviously bad blood between the group working on the harness track and Canterbury Park - look at the news page link at the above web page.

According to an article in the St. Paul paper, the land purchase for the project was completed last month, construction will begin in the spring with completion by 07, which corroberates the MN harness racing web site.

[Mackie]

It appears the project still faces two legal hurdles:

http://harnessracingminnesota.com/news.htm

As an asside, I searched the MN appeals court schedule to see if either matter was scheduled for a hearing, they are not. But this case is:

A05-60 Richard J. Jacobson (Appellant)
-vs.-
$55,900 in U.S. Currency (Respondent)

Perhaps someone with a law background can enlighten me as to how a pile of cash can be a defendant in a court case?