This horse racing season at Fonner Park is set to conclude on April 29th.

And then it will open right back up for another go-around in May.

"We asked the Nebraska State Racing Commission for 12 additional days in the month of May,” says Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak, “and they did grant that to us earlier this week.”

It was a unanimous decision by the council but wasn’t one made lightly in the face of COVID-19.

“The 12 additional days in Fonner Park for our second season in May are a good thing. If we can get to May,” says Kotulak.

“They have held our feet to the fire and maintained that we are exacting the right kind of precautions and protocols here. And we had to convince that we were with the ways and means of modern-day horse racing with no spectators here at Fonner Park.”

With the transition to races without spectators, bets are being taken not just out of state, but internationally. Along with Fonner Park being one of six race tracks currently in operation, the size of the pot has increased exponentially.

“In the United Kingdom, in South America, in Australia, they are betting on the races right here in Central Nebraska,” says Kotulak. “In Grand Island Nebraska.

It’s a huge mutuel. But that doesn’t mean Fonner Park is expecting to reap a fortune. Quite the opposite.

“There is an issue as far as the finances go,” says Kotulak. “Because money that is bet from out of state is an extreme fraction of what it would be if it was bet right here at Fonner Park."

“If it was not in the millions, we would have to shutter. Because we could not keep operations here at Fonner Park.”