Report: Casino is promised for just-sold FanDuel track in Illinois
The sale of the FanDuel racetrack near St. Louis to Accel Entertainment was approved Thursday by the Illinois Racing Board, which heard representatives for the new owner outline plans for a casino to be built there by next spring. It is a concept that has been floated at two other state tracks without ever coming to fruition.
“We are seeking to improve the overall quality of racing for owners, trainers, and fans in support of the Illinois horse industry and to comply with state legislation,” Accel U.S. gaming president Mark Phelan told the IRB, according to a BloodHorse report.
Phelan said a temporary casino would be set up in time for the Kentucky Derby simulcast alongside live racing May 3 with plans to build a permanent gambling house at the track, which was called Fairmount Park before its naming rights were sold in 2020.
The budget for the new construction was said to be $85 million-$95 million, according to the BloodHorse report. That includes what Phelan called “modest track improvements” with “deferred maintenance, infrastructure improvements and enhancements to security and surveillance.”
Phelan said the temporary casino would be set up in the current racetrack structure with 200 slot machines and 4-6 table games. The permanent casino, he said, would be bigger.
The promise of casino revenue for racetracks has gone unrequited in Illinois, particularly in Chicagoland. Arlington Park was closed, sold and torn down after its owner Churchill Downs Inc. declared its opposition to the terms of a 2019 state law that legalized track casinos. The Carey family that owns Hawthorne has promised the IRB for years that it will build a casino at its track but has yet to do so.
Accel, which is headquartered in the Chicago suburb Burr Ridge, Ill., agreed in July to buy the FanDuel racecourse in Collinsville, Ill., from William Stiritz and Robert Vitale, who have a top-level executive backgrounds at St. Louis-based Post Holdings. The 3.45 million shares of Accel stock used to buy the track were valued at the time at about $35 million.
“Accel is committed to maintaining Fairmount’s rich horse-racing history,” the company said in a July news release, “including continuing support of the Illinois Racing Board’s mission to enhance the Illinois horse-racing industry. Accel is excited to be a part of Fairmount Park’s centennial anniversary in 2025.”
The new owners made their presentation Thursday at the annual IRB meeting that is used to establish racing dates for the following year. FanDuel will race 55 days on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday nights from April 22 to Oct. 28 with what Phelan said would be a $5 million purse guarantee.
Hawthorne was granted 80 Thoroughbred race dates next year, mostly running Thursdays and Sundays from March 20 to July 31. During the three Triple Crown weeks in May and June, it will run Saturdays and Sundays. From Aug. 3 to Nov. 3, Hawthorne will race Sundays, Monday nights and Thursdays.