By Paul F. Vang
for the Montana Tavern Times It' on the strip of commercial development just off I-94, but the Golden Spur bar and casino has its roots in Miles City' historic district, as does its owner, John Tooke.
"It was originally the Golden West," Tooke relates, "when it was built back around 1970. We purchased it in 1989, and changed its name to the Golden Spur. The Golden Spur was a bar in downtown Miles City, years ago, and my father used to tend bar there."
Like many Montanans, Tooke works two jobs. He' a CPA and has a full-time accounting practice ("That' my day job," he notes.) as well as operating the Golden Spur. John' wife, Robin, who was out of state at the time of our interview, is the principal manager of the Golden Spur, plus does payroll and bookkeeping at the accounting office, "and keeps me out of trouble," John adds.
The Golden Spur has a sports bar theme. "We've got 19 TVs in the joint," John says, as he turns on two giant screen TVs on the wall behind him. In addition to the usual run of gaming machines, the Golden Spur offers occasional live poker, plus off-track betting on horse and dog racing, as part of "Montana Simulcast Partners," a non-profit corporation set up to promote horse racing in Montana.
Tooke has had a long fascination with horse racing, including owning horses. "I happen to like horse racing personally," he says, "but not now. I have a son in college, so I bagged the horse-racing business." He adds with a smile, "I may piss away some money on bets, but it' still cheaper than owning them."
For fans of long shots, wagering on races can offer some of the most attractive bets in Montana, Tooke says. "We had one customer who won $1,300 on a dime bet," he says, talking about a customer who recently picked a lucky trifecta combination. While off-track betting brings some traffic into the business, Tooke says it' not a big part of their business, adding, "We've lost a lot of the old-time horse players." Nevertheless, he notes that the May Triple Crown races of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes really brings out area horse racing fans.
Miles City, incidentally, still offers live horse racing on three days every May, with two of those days during Miles City' famous Bucking Horse Sale.
Robert Tooke, John' son, is the new owner of a separate business operation housed in the Golden Spur, making microbrew beer. John explains that the microbrewery was started by two local probation officers around 10 years ago. They recently retired so wanted to sell off the brewery, too.
"Robert graduated from college last year, and thought this could be a good business opportunity. He leases space in the back of the facility and markets his product locally, including, of course, at the Golden Spur," John says.
Marketing locally brewed beer is an opportunity, as John sees it, but it has plenty of problems. "It' expensive to distribute, and until now nobody has really worked to develop a market for microbrews in eastern Montana."
During our visit, three brews were available: a rye brew, a light and refreshing lemongrass beer, and a beer with historical connections, Milestown Lager, made from original beer-making recipes from Miles City' original brewery back in the cattle town' rip-roaring frontier days.
One thing Robert has been trying is to rack beer in 6-gallon kegs so that local bar owners can try his beers without having to put out a lot of money, or take the risk of having a lot of beer sitting around unsold.
While John has mixed feelings about his son' microbrew business, citing traditional long-time eastern Montana challenges of "distance and distribution," he went on to say that they've already put a trademark on the name of a new brew yet to be developed, "Pompey' Pilsner."
John labels himself a "voracious reader," explaining that he gets up at 5 a.m. everyday to log onto the internet to keep up with the news. "I start with the Financial Times of London, moving on to the
New York Times, Chicago Tribune and ending up with the
Los Angeles Times. "I'm very active in the gaming industry; we're first of all a gambling joint, in addition to the bar and food business." He throws in a wisecrack about the bar menu, "If it'll kill you, we'll cook it."
He' a past president of the Gaming Industry Association of Montana (and is currently vice president) and is now serving a third term on the state' Gaming Advisory Council. "We've got a good group," he says of the council, "well acquainted with gambling issues in Montana--it' a damned good group."
He has opinions on many issues affecting Montana' tavern and gambling industry. Right off the bat, he says he has problems with Montana' age 21 drinking laws. While he admits that he really doesn't want a bunch of 19 and 20 year-olds in his bar ("Too much testosterone and they break too much."), he thinks that current laws have been a factor in the loss of young adults in small towns and cities.
"There really isn't anything for many of them to do in our small towns, and we lose them to larger cities and we don't get them back. We need to devise some answers for our own survival. It'll take people a lot smarter than I to devise solutions to these serious problems."
He also has been looking at the Montana Tavern Association and has thoughts on improvements, starting first of all with recruiting additional membership from the many bars in Montana that don't belong to MTA. He suggests some inducements through providing additional member services, such as professional bartender training, for example.
"There are a lot of people who tend bar--but not many professional bartenders like we used to have, trained personnel who can provide our customers a higher level of service."
Tooke also suggests that MTA should look into having someone on staff that can help local bar owners with design and decor.
Regarding the Legislature' action to phase out smoking in public places, including bars and casinos, John says, "I think we have a lot of challenges facing us. The smoking ban is a significant problem but it' also a significant opportunity to change our culture to bring the 80 percent of people who don't smoke back to the bars. We need to work to regain our position in the community--to get back into the mainstream."
For the Golden Spur, he anticipates building a patio area at the front of the building for the benefit of smokers.
Continuing in that vein, he suggests that "MTA has to be more proactive to help our industry be more community-minded. I'm not sure what the answers are, but ... I'll know it when I see it."
"Collectively," John summed up, "We need to do a lot of things better--and I'm speaking about myself as well as the industry. We need to do a lot of thinking outside of the box. If we're proactive we will come up with some solutions, and I'm confident--we have a lot of smart people in our business." He adds, "We have to; there' no welfare for old bar owners."
"I've been active politically," John mentioned. "When we bought the Golden Spur, Gary Matthews (Montana' 2005 Legislature Speaker of the House) was our partner until we bought him out eight years ago. I was among those who encouraged him to run for the Legislature."
On a personal note, he adds, "I've known Gary since we were in second grade."
Speaking of his younger years, John noted that he was only seven years old when his father died, but has fond memories of him. "He was a card cheat," he says bluntly, going on to clarify, "My father was a card "mechanic'--probably the best in eastern Montana."
"Benny Binion," the famed Las Vegas casino operator who also owned a ranch in the Jordan area, "hired my dad to teach his dealers how to cheat--they have to know how to cheat to catch a cheater--he'd send them out to Miles City and they'd set up a room at the Olive Hotel as a classroom."
Of his dual professional life as a Certified Public Accountant and a bar and casino owner, John gives Robin credit for making things work. Still, he sums it up, "I can blend this with the other stuff I do. We have policies for our businesses, and then everybody, including the owners, has to adhere to the policies."
After 16 years of operating the Golden Spur, John says, simply, "We've been able to keep the doors open--day by day. This business isn't for the faint-hearted, but I'm like Vivien Leigh [as Scarlet O'Hara] in Gone With the Wind: "Tomorrow is another day.'"
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, August, 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.