Things are looking up for Arlington Park, albeit ever so slightly, as they posted a 3 percent growth in betting this year over last.
With the season wrapping up last Sunday, numbers released from the Illinois Racing Board provide a little sigh of relief for park officials, who have watched business shrink over the past several years.
Despite the 3 percent increase in daily racing wagers to about $3 million from $2.9 million in 2010, the total is still down 25 percent from 2009 when it was about $4 million.
But, General Manager Tony Petrillo sees the increase as a significant reversal in downward trends that have plagued the industry since 2007.
“We had a very good season, especially in comparison to what happened nationally,” he said. “Wagering of horse racing was down 30 percent and down 12 percent in August.”
Arlington’s betting numbers were boosted in August when millions of dollars tied up in litigation were released from four Illinois casinos. Illinois imposed a fee in 2006 that casinos had to hand over to horse racing parks, because of the impact the new gambling institutions would have on the parks. Until this summer, the casinos had been fighting the measure while years of the impact fees accrued.
By dropping their legal objections, that money was released to the racing parks, which allowed them to increase purses.
Though he cited the impact fee money as part of the reason behind the park’s better numbers, he believes park officials “don’t fully know yet what affect that has on our program, or will have on the future.”
According to Petrillo, August saw an increase in the number of horses coming from Kentucky, where the park’s parent company, Churchill Downs, is located.
“While it [the larger purses] increased the number of horses interested, I think our marketing plan and broadcast of festival races – bringing a better quality product – had a big impact,” Petrillo said.
Out-of-state betting did increase by about 5 percent to an average daily amount of nearly $2.3 million this year. However, bets placed at Arlington dropped about 3 percent from last year to an average of $417,000.
Still, Petrillo estimated that park attendance was also up slightly, though he said he had not tallied overall numbers. The park also traditionally does not release attendance numbers from races or events.
Petrillo believes the attendance increase is evidenced by the park’s decision to keep Mr. D’s Sports Bar open Fridays through Sundays, though the season has ended.
“It was very sporadic before,” he said. “But over the course of last year we’ve built up a pretty solid customer base.”
Park officials are now drafting their strategic plan and budget for next year, which does not include considering slots.
“We don’t know what that’s going to do and we’re not going to see revenues from that in 2012 anyway,” Petrillo said.
