Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, pictured in 1994 with then-Arlington Park owner Richard Duchossois, says he thinks the 99-year-old billionaire today has “got to be disappointed” about the pending closure of the track. “Arlington was his baby. He loved that place,” Edgar said.
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar — a longtime racehorse owner and breeder — says Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state leaders should exert pressure on the owner of Arlington Park in an eleventh-hour attempt to save the historic racing venue and the struggling Illinois horse racing industry.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, the former Republican governor — who has been racing horses since leaving office in 1999 — also expressed disappointment in Churchill Downs Inc.’s decision to sell the track after refusing to add slots and table games the corporation had long sought to boost its horse racing business.
Despite Churchill’s determination to sell the prime 326 acres it owns in Arlington Heights, the two-term former governor said he’s still hopeful Arlington could once again be a viable racetrack, turn a slight profit and be an asset for state agriculture jobs.
“I think the entity that really has the real leverage is the state, and that comes from the governor’s office,” said Edgar, during a phone interview from his farm just outside Springfield. “When you’re giving out (casino) licenses, you’ve got to think what’s in the best interest of the state. And if an entity has not really done what’s in the best interest of the state, I’m not sure why you’d continue to give them more licenses.”
Edgar was making reference to Churchill’s pending bid for a new casino in Waukegan and its interest in a potential Chicago casino. But he also pointed to state regulators’ March 2019 approval of Churchill’s majority ownership stake in Rivers Casino in Des Plaines that in hindsight, Edgar said, was a mistake.
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If the state had issued permits for gambling decades ago when requested, we probably would not be at this point. The politicians in this state have a record of taking many years to make the right decision while rushing into errors.