Page 5 - February 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, February 2005 5
David Willmot: A Decade of Progress:
By Peter Gross
David Willmot, President, CEO and Chairman of The Woodbine Entertainment Group has no business looking as young as he does. Willmot turned 55 on Groundhog's Day, but with his slim physique and still fair hair, he resembles no one's grandfather. Factor in the mess he inherited nine years ago when he took over the crumbling Ontario Jockey Club and it defies logic that he hasn't yet pulled out all of his hair.
"We had run-down dilapidated plants that were not competitive with new entertainment and sports venues," he remembers,
"We were not competitive with the casinos, not competitive with Skydome. Our wagering was going down and we were losing market share. People were saying that racing was obsolete, it was finished. There were too many attractions for
the gaming and entertainment dollar and racing was old
school and too expensive. And our customer service was lousy."
Come on David - don't hold back. How bad was it?
"We were virtually broke at that point. We were three months from the bank calling our loan."
As the youngest member of the board of directors in the late 80s, Willmot was also the squeakiest wheel. He had much to say about how the OJC ran its game and stood out as the angry young man. Not to short change his portfolio, but Willmot's rise to the top of the pile may have had just as much to do with the company'sdesperationas with the revolutionary ideas the upstart youngster was proposing.
In November of 1995, Willmot became CEO and the first thing on his agenda was something no other OJC president had considered. He invited to his office some of the track's biggest bettors. Guys who barely blink as they bet $5-$10,000 a race. 'Whales', Willmot calls them and when he made the mistake of calling them fans, he got an earful.
"Don't call me a fan," one of the whales sneered, "I'm not a fan of anything you and your rich friends do around here. For years and years you've been turning us upside down and shaking the money out of our pockets and treating us like *#@!. Don't call us fans. I'm a customer and I want to be treated like a paying customer."
David Willmot's eyes are wide open as he relates this incident.
"From that day forward, I made up my mind that this company was going to be
absolutely committed to the customer, the everyday player, not just the elitist club mentality."
That, of course is somewhat easier to say than to do. First of all, Woodbine Racetrack needed a makeover in the worst way.
"The first thing we needed to do was fix up the grand- stand, make it nicer so we could attract women and families." Willmot says, " I didn't want to have the stigmatized view of an old style racetrack with guys chomping on cigars, grey walls and steel girders."
Good idea, but considering the financial distress of the company, where would the money come from? Willmot has an amazing answer.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
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