Arlington Park gaming positions could change math for Churchill Downs

Arlington International Racecourse is getting slot machines and other gambling devices. The value of the 92-year-old track has been enhanced by the gambling bill signed this month by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Churchill Downs could sell the track and focus on its other business, the recent acquisition of a controlling interest in Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.

Arlington Park's new gambling law authorizes 1,200 gaming positions at the track. It also gives incumbent casinos the leeway to add 800 more. The law also adds 4,000 positions for a Chicago casino, another 10,00 in the south suburbs and more elsewhere. Churchill Downs bought Arlington in 2000 for $71.5 million in stock. Its stock has quadrupled since then. The company bought Rivers Casino in Des Plaines for about $442 million last year. Less than 30 percent of Churchill's 2018 revenue of $1.01 billion was related to racing, compared with more than 40 percent attributable to casino operations.