Now that the holiday season is over and the approval process is complete, renovation work has begun at the site of the Virginia Equine Alliance’s (VEA) fourth Off Track Betting (OTB) Center.
The Windmill OTB is located at the Quality Inn in Henry County, in the town of Collinsville just outside of Martinsville, Virginia. The hotel is on heavily traveled Route 220 and has a large parking lot at its site with free parking.
Once renovations are complete, the second floor combination sports bar/OTB will feature 47 televisions. A blend of live horse races from tracks around the country along with sports programming will be shown seven days and evenings per week. Up to 20 tracks will be simulcast daily. A combination of ten betting terminals will be available for fans to wager the horse racing action — 7 will be self bet machines and the other 3 can be utilized as either a manned or self bet terminal. Two of the televisions will be a 75-inch screen format while the other 45 will be of the 55-inch variety.
The hotel, known to locals as the “Dutch Inn”, features a prominent windmill on its exterior. The lounge, which used to have a dance floor in the corner, will utilize that space for a video wall to include 18 televisions and five self betting terminals.
The renovated facility will have an upscale feel to it, plenty of seating with premier sightlines of all the action, full meal and appetizer dining for both lunch and dinner, and a complete bar.
Renovations are expected to take 60 days. The Windmill OTB could open as early as late winter, in time for key Derby prep races and college basketball’s March Madness. Look for progress reports here and at the Virginia Horse Racing facebook page.
