Boutique casino operator Full House Resorts (FHR) thinks motion sickness is the missing ingredient in “redefining the sport of horse racing.”
On Monday, FHR unveiled its proposal for a $200m destination resort in New Mexico the company has dubbed La Posada del Liano (“The Inn on the Plains”). The company has optioned 520 acres of land east of the city of Clovis on which it hopes to build a racetrack, 35k-square-foot casino, luxury hotel, 18-hole golf course, water park and other amenities.
So far, so standard, but FHR has brought the ‘wow’ – or, depending on your perspective, the ‘wtf’ – through what it calls a Moving Grandstand (pictured). In short, it’s a portion of the racetrack’s stadium seating that will be mounted on rails and will move in tandem with the horses during races.
FHR CEO Daniel Lee said typical racetracks offer grandstand viewers only “two brief moments of a race – its start and the closing seconds at the finish line.” The Moving Grandstand will allow spectators to “race side-by-side with the horses for every dramatic second,” an innovation that Lee predicts will “open horse racing to a new generation of fans.”