While much attention is rightfully paid to Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort’s major additions in recent years, during which the establishment was developed into a fully fledged casino resort, no less important changes were made in the decades prior that allowed the hallowed horse racing venue to become what it is today. Having been a part of Oaklawn for more than a third of its 120-year history, senior vice president, board of directors member and soon-to-be Arkansas Business Hall of Famer Eric Jackson has been an integral part of those transformations, both old and new.
A Hot Springs native, Eric Jackson attended Hendrix College in Conway and graduated with a degree in economics, a wife and no money. Both he and his wife sought advanced degrees, and while she went to earn hers at Southern Methodist University in Texas, his plans to go to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee had to be delayed while he found a job.
“That plan didn’t work very well,” Jackson said. “Out of the blue, I met the general manager of Oaklawn, and he offered me a job. I told him I didn’t know anything about horse racing, but he explained that most everybody starts out at that point. He suggested I try it for six months and see if I liked it, and Oaklawn could see if they liked me. If it didn’t work out, I would be no worse off than six months behind schedule, but it might work out. I was the director of operations for seven years. Unfortunately, the general manager suddenly passed away, and as I tell everyone, I was the only one who knew where the keys were, so they made me general manager in 1987.”
Oaklawn was, at that time, facing significant difficulties. Going into the 1980s, racetracks were one of the only legal forms of gambling in the nation. Both casinos and lotteries were rare, and Oaklawn expanded its racing season to 62 days in 1984 to capitalize on increased attendance. By the late ‘80s and into the early 2000s, legislation such as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the legalization of riverboat gambling in neighboring states had introduced serious competition.
“Now you can’t turn around without seeing a lottery, online gambling or a casino,” Jackson said. “That’s been difficult for race tracks, but Oaklawn has found a way to not only survive, but thrive. To an extent, I think we’ve done it as well or better than any racetrack in the country.”
To put Oaklawn back on track and keep racing relevant in the industry, Jackson helped lead the club in the use of simulcasting, which made it possible to both view and place bets on a race without being present at the track. Even as in-person attendance fell, revenue climbed.
“[Simulcasting] is the mainstay of our racing program right now,” Jackson said. “Our signal goes to over 1,000 places in North America, and back in 1990, it didn’t go anywhere. The last 25 years have been pretty hard on racetracks, and Oaklawn has been swimming against the stream that entire time, but for a little track in Arkansas to invent, develop and pioneer simulcasting is pretty amazing. That’s about 90 percent of the racing business in America now.”
Jackson also developed the concept of historic racing, which allows players to bet on a race that has already occurred and is randomly selected from a catalog of thousands that have identifying information removed.
“I was awarded a patent for historic racing, and we developed that product and put it into play in 2000,” Jackson said. “Historic racing really put us back in the game, and the patent we got on it kind of revolutionized everything. Now it’s a major product in Kentucky and other racing states. It’s been expanded to a number of places around the country, including Churchill Downs, where they run the Kentucky Derby.”
Nor did the lucky streak end there. In 2005, a public referendum allowed Oaklawn to run “games of skill,” such as video poker. Jackson became senior vice president of Oaklawn in 2017, and the position of general manager was taken up by Wayne Smith. In 2018, another ballot amendment allowed Oaklawn to become a full casino.
“We kicked off a $100 million expansion at that time,” Jackson said. “I think we actually broke ground the day before [the COVID-19 pandemic] hit America, so we were extremely late completing the project, but now we’re very glad we did it. We’re the only complete racing and gaming resort in North America, and it’s worked out quite well for us.”
Across his career, Jackson has learned more than a few things about being a leader. One of the most important qualities he has learned, however, is the willingness to change in order to change things around him.
“What I’ve discovered is that there is no one management style that works on everybody and for everybody. A good manager will find a way to get the best possible performance out of the person that is reporting to him or her. For some people, that’s the carrot, for some, it’s the stick, and for some, it’s pom-poms.”
He believes that management style has paid off because Oaklawn has numerous employees who have been with the organization for 20, 30 or, in his own case, 45 years. It is a great achievement for anyone to stay with a single company for upward of four decades and perhaps an even greater achievement for the organization that it is able to hold onto a talented leader for such a span of time.
When asked what had kept him at Oaklawn all these years, Jackson responded, “Well, it’s really the sport. It’s the pageantry, the beauty and the thrill of competition, the agony of defeat. Oaklawn has always conducted racing at a very high level, one of the best programs in the country. Right now, a good argument could be made that it’s the best program in the country this time of the year because our purses are so high.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taken these other forms of entertainment, whether it’s simulcasting, historic racing or gaming itself, and we’re using some of those revenues to enhance our purses. That’s allowing us to attract some really significant horses from around the country. Our purse structure is the equal of New York, and it’s higher than Los Angeles. What amazes me every time I think about it is those are major, major metropolitan areas, and we’re in a town of 35,000 people, so to say you go head to head with New York, it almost doesn’t seem real, but that’s where we are.”
In fact, Jackson counted Hot Springs and its size compared to the massive cities of the east and west coasts not as an obstacle, but as an advantage. As a tourist destination from its earliest days, Hot Springs can draw plenty of people on its own, but adding a casino resort and racetrack makes for a powerful combination. Jackson also credited Visit Hot Springs and its CEO, Steve Arrison, for reinventing the town into a national park resort community that has complemented Oaklawn’s growth and expansion.
“It really is hand in glove, Oaklawn and Hot Springs,” Jackson said, “and people like coming to Arkansas. It’s the mountains. It’s the natural beauty. Arkansas tourism exploded during COVID. I’m on the parks and tourism commission, and our numbers went right through the roof. All of that bodes well for businesses like Oaklawn or anybody who’s in the tourism business — it has just been a good run for everybody.”
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