When Fairmount Park opens for its 100th season of horse racing in the Metro East next month, the facility will look much different as the new owner has started $100 million in renovations.
After Accel Entertainment closed on the purchase of FanDuel Sportsbook & Racetrack last year, the Chicago-based company started construction that includes building a new casino, putting in a restaurant, improving many aspects of the track and eventually building a concert venue and maybe a hotel.
“The investment that Accel is making, and what's going on here, really ensures that the track will be here for another 100 years,” said Vince Gabbert, the new general manager of Fairmount Park.
Gabbert, a Kentucky native who’s cut his teeth in that state’s massive horse industry, said the planned renovations expected to be complete in the next three years will be monumental growth for a track that’s been distressed. And it will serve as a template for other markets, he said.
Those changes have everyone from Collinsville’s city manager to the president of the local horsemen’s association and the jockeys excited.
“We think it's going to be a boon to our community and the Metro East at large,” said Collinsville City Manager Derek Jackson.
Under the state law passed in 2019 that allowed for the creation of “racinos” — racetracks with casinos — Collinsville and the surrounding communities will receive more than $3 million in annual revenue through an admissions and gaming tax.
But it’s not just municipalities that will see improvements, according to horse owners, trainers and jockeys at Fairmount. With all the changes coming down the pike, they are hoping there will be more racing that will get more competitive.
“It's been a long time coming,” said Scott Becker, a horse trainer and owner from Belleville, whose family has been racing at Fairmount since the 1960s. “There's a lot of us that have just been waiting for this, and we’re so excited. You think about the changes and it almost makes you break down to tears of happiness because we've really wanted this for a long time.”
What's being built?
When patrons arrive for the start of the season on April 22, not all the projects will be complete. The goal for Accel will be to have a temporary casino running and the 150-person restaurant finished this spring, Gabbert said.
“We'll ask for a lot of patience and grace,” he said. “Everybody loves what they have currently, and change is hard for everybody. But we think, that by the time it's all said and done, that everybody will really love the finished product.”
Toward the end of 2025 or start of 2026, Accel will demolish the current clubhouse, where the main casino will be built over the next three years. When complete, the casino will have slots, electronic table games — and, of course, a place to bet on the ponies and other sports.
The company already tore down the old tote board, the horseracing equivalent of a score board, and it will put in a new video version this spring.
Later this fall, Accel will start to build new barns and dorms for employees. It has already ordered new equipment like a tractor and float to maintain the horse racing surface. The inner rail of the track will be replaced after this season, Gabbert said.
“A lot of little things that people may not notice, but it’ll really improve the look of the product,” he said.
The infield concert venue and maybe a hotel will be the last pieces of the three-year project.
Race times changing
Beyond the aesthetic and physical changes happening, race times will also change on Saturdays. While eventually Fairmount officials hope to race more, they will stick with 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays. However, Accel and the horsemen's association decided to move up Saturday’s time to 1:30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. to draw more bettors watching from around the country.
“We're experimenting,” said Jim Watkins, president of the Illinois Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “So, it may not stay there. We may swap it around, but change can be good, and there's a lot of positive changes on the horizon. Fairmount Park is going to be a destination.”
Watkins, also a horse trainer, owner and breeder from Collinsville, said Fairmount Park has a chance to place Illinois back on the national stage in the racing industry. The state used to be prominent, but, as other nearby states passed legislation to allow for racinos, Illinois’ horse racing program declined, he said.
The casino, track improvements and hopefully more racing will help quell some of those problems, Watkins said.
“More money, better races, better-quality horses,” Watkins said.
Alexander Bendezu, last year’s leading jockey, said the track’s improvement should only make the competition stronger.
“I think what they're doing is great because it incentivizes more horses to come by, more trainers, more jockeys,” he said in Spanish. “The competition will be better here, and it's great because this site is great. I love it here.”
The better the competition gets, the more the jockeys will be able to make and support their families, Bendezu added. The time change on Saturdays is also welcome for the Collinsville track’s jockeys, who often race in northern Illinois on Sundays.
For Becker, there’s now a bright outlook for Fairmount after “30 years of negativity.” Shortened racing seasons, smaller purses, waiting on the state legislature to pass a bill and watching other tracks close all played a factor into the track’s decline, he said.
“It's like something you couldn't script up to happen,” Becker said. “And there's a lot of long-standing horsemen here that deserve a lot of this to happen.”
Economic development
Collinsville officials made their $3 million regional projections based on conservative estimates that Fairmount Park would see 450,000 patrons this season.
The 2019 state law allows for a 5% electronic gaming tax. Collinsville gets 40% of the tax revenue generated at Fairmount, and East St. Louis and Alton, which have existing casinos, will get 30% each. For the admissions tax, 10 other surrounding committees will get 10 cents per visitor.
“We’re all about regionalism,” Jackson said.
The extra tax revenue isn’t the only economic benefit of the upgraded racetrack. The more people who come to a race, the more people who patronize small businesses and Collinsville’s downtown, Jackson said.
“The more people we can have coming into town to pay for services here or entertainment, whatever it is, that takes a burden off of our residents when it comes to property tax.”
Accel and Collinsville don’t currently have incentive agreements, but they are discussing possibilities that could include tax increment financing, buying improvements at a discounted sales tax rate and trading some nearby property to build solar panels, Jackson said.
Even without the incentives in place, Accel will forge on with their plans. The solid attendance at Fairmount gives the company hope in its attempt to grow, Gabbert said.
“The exciting thing for me here is it really is a chance to do some cool stuff,” he said.
The owners and trainers said they’re also excited, even though there will be some adjustments.
“Short term pain for long-term gain,” Watkins said. “We understand that we're going to have to be inconvenienced, if you will, to reach our goal down the road.”
