“I have not heard about any monetary amount (US$ 110 million). I didn’t talk with Kentucky and Lexington’s officials about any kind of gambling issues. Because Mongolia has no laws about gambling and I’m not a lawmaker I don’t know when and how they would approve any gambling law. This issue is prohibited in Mongolia,” Bolormaa told MonInfo in an interview.

The Lexington Herald-Leader paper reported on its website that on November 24, “A Mongolia-Bluegrass alliance was forged yesterday to build for the Asian nation a US$ 110 million racetrack that will offer both pari-mutuel wagering and casino gambling.”

“We exchanged our proposals each other about to build a complex town consisting of a racetrack following a training center for specialists of agriculture and apartments. The investment for this complex town would be 60 percent responsible by the USA side and 40 percent from the Mongolian side,” Bolormaa said.

“We didn’t sign any document and we didn’t make any detailed deal about it. We just exchanged opinions to cooperate both Ulaanbaatar and Kentucky,” pointed out Bolormaa.

Three representatives from the American side offered a project update document, but did not immediately answer emailed questions sent last week.

“…the economic reality is such that without gaming, the scope of the facilities and job creation cannot be fully realized,” the project update said.

Bolormaa said that some aspects of horse racing would not be promoted in Ulaanbaatar.

“I watched horse racing gambling in Kentucky. It is not like Mongolian horse race competitions. The jockeys are adults in Kentucky and in Mongolia they are children. I’m not supporting children racing horses. And also I don’t support wintertime horse racing” she said.

“Parliament member T. Badamjunai was elected from Ulaanbaatar so he participated to this visit together with an Ulaanbaatar’s governor office representative, Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade Agency’s representative and City Council in order to develop cooperation between Ulaanbaatar and Lexington,” Bolormaa told MonInfo.

However, she denied any “promised actions,” to support the passage of new gambling legislation.

The deal would grant the city of Ulaanbaatar 20 percent ownership in the proposed project.

 On the web: http://www.moninfo.org/content/view/388/8/lang,en/

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/16094565.htm