Gambling expansion bill passes Illinois House

CHICAGO – A bill that would expand legal gambling in Illinois and allow the state’s horse racing entities to operate casinos at their tracks passed the Illinois House of Representatives early Saturday evening. The bill will be taken up by the state Senate on Sunday and if it passes is expected to be signed into law by governor J.B. Pritzker, who generally has supported gambling expansion since his election to the office last year.

The bill would permit Arlington and Hawthorne to install up to 1,200 slot machines and offer table games like blackjack and poker. Fairmount Park in downstate Illinois could have up to 900 slot machines. Tracks also can conduct sports betting, which would be legalized statewide through the bill’s provisions, though revenue derived from that avenue would go merely to track owners, not race purses.

The legislation also would end the practice known as recapture whereby tracks deduct a considerable percentage of handle that would otherwise go to purses, a unique circumstance nationally that came into being when track operators resisted a law change that permitted full-card simulcasting. Hawthorne and Arlington took about $7.2 million in recapture funds out of Thoroughbred purse accounts in 2018. Recapture would end the year after racetrack casinos began operating.

The bill also calls for a new harness track to be built, although it’s uncertain exactly where the track would be located. Other than fair tracks, the only harness racing venue left in Illinois is Hawthorne, which runs a summer Standardbred meeting.

The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association estimates that if the new track is built and both Hawthorne and Arlington maximize their casino opportunities purses at Chicago-area tracks could increase by $40 to $50 million compared to current levels.

If passed, the bill would cast a lifeline to a drowning industry here. Breeders, owners, and horsemen have abandoned the once-vital Illinois circuit as purses have steadily declined as Illinois faced stiff competition from tracks in Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota, all of which offer purses subsidized by other gambling operations. Sportsman’s Park, Balmoral Park, and Maywood Park all have closed, Hawthorne has been scraping by for years, and speculation has been widespread that Churchill Downs Inc., Arlington’s parent company, would cease operations at the internationally renowned venue. CDI last year purchased a majority stake in Rivers Casino (a position they have since enlarged), which is the biggest in Illinois and sits some 13 miles from Arlington.

A prime motivator for the gambling expansion bill is the desire to open a casino in Chicago proper. New Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot earlier Saturday publicly opposed language in the sports-betting section of the legislation but her concerns were alleviated by day’s end as the bill advanced through the first stage of potential passage.