When Jon Sloane first heard that the Illinois state legislature had approved an expanded gaming bill, he said, “Frankly, our first reaction was now let’s hope Governor Pritzker signs it.”
Other gaming bills under previous governors had come and gone, said Sloane, spokesman for Fairmount Park racetrack in Collinsville. “But we were confident (Pritzker) would sign it,” said Sloane. “He had been very encouraging before the bill passed.”
Not only did Pritzker sign the bill, which allows the 94-year old racetrack to offer casino-style gaming and sports betting, he also stopped by to celebrate. At the ceremony, Sloane said, Fairmount Park honored a 94-year old employee who has worked at the track 67 years.
The changes at Fairmount Park won’t happen immediately. “We hope to build a casino in 2020, but keep in mind, the first thing is various administrative bodies have to set up the parameters and procedures. It’s a massive undertaking at the beginning,” Sloane said. “But then our intent is to be up and running as soon as possible.”
Fairmount Park owners will invest about $50 million to upgrade the venue, he said. “It’s going to be a very big deal. It’s very exciting. We’ve been trying at least 20 years to get just slots, and this bill gives us everything we possibly could have wanted. But it’s still going to take a great effort and a big investment to physically transform the place.”
Pritzker said the expanded gaming measure will result in “more horses, more races, more days—and that means more jobs to this area.” State Rep. Jay Hoffman, whose 113th House District includes Fairmount Park, said, “The beauty of the bill is it also provides a very specific number of live races required to receive the additional gaming. So there has to be a minimum of 100 racing dates, up from 41.” In the past, he said, some of those races had fields of only four horses.
Hoffman old GGB News, “Illinois is the only state in the U.S. with casino gaming and horseracing without either revenue-sharing to help the racing purses or gaming at the tracks. As a result, the horseracing industry has gone through a steady decline. At Fairmount, we were just hanging on against great odds. We couldn’t offer the purses that attract the top horses. They’d go to Arkansas or Indiana to get bigger purses. This new law is a total game-changer.”
Hoffman, who was instrumental in getting the new law passed, explained why the timing was right, at last. “Three things occurred that made it a reality. First, we got a new governor who was interested in making sure the horseracing industry remained viable. Second, the gambling revenue will help pay for the governor’s $45 billion infrastructure program.”
Third, Hoffman said, “We were very vocal that we wouldn’t support further casinos, including one in Chicago, without making sure the horseracing industry would benefit from allowing expanded gaming at the racetracks. So there was the willingness and the need to find revenue for a capital bill. It all came together, things we had been working on for two decades.”
Sloane said casino gaming and sports betting are sure to attract new visitors from the St. Louis area. Pritzker emphasized, however, “Our goal is to expand the market, not to cannibalize from other casinos.”
Despite the challenges it’s faced, Fairmount Park has consistently had higher attendance per racing date than the other two tracks in Illinois, Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights and Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero. “There’s a lot of interest in horseracing in the metro St. Louis area,” said Sloane. “All you have to do is go to Fairmount Park on a Tuesday afternoon.”
Can the lawmaker occasionally be spotted in the stands? “I enjoy it but I’m not very good at picking horses,” Hoffman said. “I like watching the crowds.”
