One could say Brian Ohorilko was born to run a casino and racetrack. After all, his childhood home in Altoona backed up to the Prairie Meadows training track.
His family later moved to Mitchellville, where they lived next to a couple of racehorse farms. He would bring daily race forms to school and developed an interest in math and analytics, calculating odds and probabilities with gambling games and card games. In high school, a teacher suggested he develop a business plan for a casino as a class project.
After college and a brief stint at Pioneer Hybrid he joined Prairie Meadows in 2001. He wanted to get into horse racing but it was the middle of winter and racing wasn’t happening. So he worked in the restaurant for about a month before trying his hand in the simulcast center and also as an official during horse races. He took entries and also worked as a judge at the end of races, reading photo finishes…