The Illinois Racing Board on Sept. 24, 2019 voted unanimously to grant Arlington Park the racing dates it requested for 2020 despite earlier putting the track’s future into question because owner Churchill Downs Inc. elected to not open a casino at the track.
A week earlier, the board had threatened to deny Arlington dates for 2020 unless Churchill Downs had demonstrated a concrete commitment to racing.
That threat stemmed from a Churchill Downs unpopular decision not to apply for a gaming license at Arlington under terms of a new state law. An action that would cost purse accounts millions of dollars a year and puts the future of the venue in jeopardy. The decision, after years of Arlington lobbying for the right to run casino games, came some five months after Churchill Downs took a majority stake in the Rivers Casino, located about 12 miles from Arlington Park.
