Minnesota State Sen. Dick Day (R-Owatonna) has announced he will resign his Senate seat to lead a newly organized effort to achieve legislative approval for slot and video games at Canterbury Park and Running Aces racetracks.

His resignation is effective Jan. 8, 2010.

Day will become president of Racino Now, a grass roots coalition of business leaders, horse racing fans and citizens who want to bring racino to Minnesota.

“Anyone who knows me knows that a racino at Canterbury Park has been one of my top legislative priorities for 12 years, since 1997 when I first proposed the idea to fund a new Twins ballpark.  Every year I have tried to get the Legislature to see how the people of Minnesota could benefit from my plan, to see the various ways we could use the hundreds of millions of dollars the state would earn from racinos.

 “Now I have the opportunity to work full time toward this end, and I look forward to traveling throughout the state to talk to Minnesotans about the many ways we will all gain from these two racinos,” Day said. Day further said, “Racinos will bring thousands of jobs and $250 million a biennium in revenue to our state.  The money could be used for programs such as education, transportation, health care or to fund a stadium. With the recent news of a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, it’s clear we need racino now.”

Day was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1990.  He served as minority leader of the Republican caucus from 1997-2006, longer than any other minority leader in the state’s history.

Information about the organization can be found at www.racinonow.com.