Business & Tech
Horse Racing Will Continue at Arlington Park in 2020
The Illinois Racing Board will voted Tuesday on racing dates for the suburban racetrack.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — The Illinois Racing Board gave its unanimous OK Tuesday to continue horse racing at Arlington Park in 2020. But the racetrack's owners said the fate of Arlington International is still unclear, the Daily Herald reports.
The Illinois Racing Board approved 68 live racing dates for next season during a meeting in Chicago, the Daily Herald reports. The vote came weeks after Churchill Downs Inc. announced it would not move forward with obtaining a casino license for the racetrack
Churchill Downs officials did say they were committed to keeping horse racing up and running through 2021 at Arlington, according to the article. But they could not say if they would reconsider applying for a casino-style gambling license.
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"We need time to figure this out, and we would appreciate your patience as we do so," Brad Blackwell, Churchill's senior vice president and general counsel, told racing board commissioners.
Weeks earlier, the owners of the racetrack announced they would not move forward with the casino license at Arlington International. The announcement came as a surprise as the company had lobbied for years for slot machines and table games at Arlington Park, according to an earlier Daily Herald report.
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Company officials blamed a state law that requires racetracks to contribute a portion of its casino game profit to racing purses, the Daily Herald reports. The company, according to a statement, is thinking about moving its racing license to a different community in the Chicago area or elsewhere in Illinois.
"The loss of Arlington would be devastating to the community of Arlington Heights as it is the city’s largest employer seasonally," according to a statement from Arlington Park.
Arlington International Racecourse has been drawing horse racing enthusiasts to its racetrack since 1927. The racetrack closed for the season last weekend.
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