Jan. 22, 2025

Sioux Falls soon will have a place for off-track betting as The SandBar & Grill expands and rebrands.

The new name Railbirds is a reference to the term used to describe racing spectators, especially those who watch horse races from the railing along the track.

Off-track betting includes horse, dog and harness racing, which is separate from sports wagering that’s legal in South Dakota only in Deadwood.

Railbirds is owned by Tim Stupka and Rick McKinney, who owned an off-track betting location in North Sioux City for 17 years, as well as Eric Ward and Eric Schofield, who are partners with the other two in Session Ale Works.

They purchased The SandBar, which is at 2310 S. Marion Road in the Lake Lorraine development, from Josh Van Dyke, the restaurant’s chef, who is staying on to run the kitchen.

“We think there have been six OTBs in the Sioux Falls market in the last 25 years, but none of them have ever offered food,” Stupka said.

“So we’re really going after the entertainment market. We think this is something on a Friday or Saturday night or a Sunday afternoon that would be fun to do. This will be a legal opportunity to bet on big races like the (Kentucky) Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup.”

The restaurant side is being remodeled, and an area is being carved out to lead into an adjacent vacant space that will be about a 2,000-square-foot annex to serve as the off-track betting area. The entire site will be served by the same liquor license, and there will be 20 video lottery machines between the two spaces.

“The menu will be reduced in size, and we are going to really try to have some items that we will be known for,” Stupka said. “And we’ll still have most of what’s on the menu now.”

An updated menu is scheduled to roll out next month.

The off-track betting side is expected to open before the end of March.

The OTB will handle about 20 tracks per month, and every track runs between nine and 12 races a day. There will be 23 televisions for watching the races.

The OTB itself will be open Wednesday through Sunday. The closest similar facility is in Omaha, Stupka said, adding that he expects it to draw from a large radius.

“We feel like Brookings, Mitchell, Watertown,” he said. “We had people in Sioux City driving down from Milbank or Aberdeen.”