The Louisiana State Racing Commission on Tuesday approved a meet at Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans running from Thanksgiving week in November to the third week of March, with specific dates to be determined after horsemen and the track make an assessment in August about the available subsidies from other forms of gambling.
The approval was granted after Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of Fair Grounds, backtracked on a threat to surrender its licenses for the track and its OTBs due to dissatisfaction over the impact of a recent state Supreme Court ruling invalidating the operation of historical horse racing machines at its OTBs.
Churchill and the state’s horsemen are expected to negotiate over the total number of dates for the meet and a weekly racing schedule in August, after the two parties review the receipts from the track’s slot-machine operations and other forms of gambling at the OTBs, according to officials. Under state law, Fair Grounds is required to run at least 76 days of live racing unless both the track and horsemen agree to an abbreviated schedule.
“We’re all very happy,” said Ed Fenasci, the executive director of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “We all expect to have a meet similar to last year’s meet.”
Churchill, in a statement released after the brief commission meeting on Tuesday, confirmed the plan to determine the track’s specific race dates.
“The track and horsemen’s groups have a planned meeting in August to finalize the race dates, once there is a better understanding of the purses available for the season,” the statement said. “As always, the Fair Grounds team remains dedicated to presenting an exceptional racing season, and we look forward to welcoming guests on opening day, Nov. 20.”
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in March, Churchill had said that it anticipated cutting purses by 25 percent for the 2025-26 meet. Weeks later, the company threatened to surrender its licenses for the track and OTBs after contending that the state legislature and Gov. Jeff Landry were “unwilling” to address the impact of the ruling.
On the final day of the session, the legislature passed a bill designating the Fair Grounds property as a “protected historic site,” placing limitations on what can be done with the property and its race meet without legislative approval. The designation was attached as an amendment to a bill of minor consequence, giving the state some leverage over CDI.
Soon after the legislature closed its session, Churchill released a statement saying that negotiations between the company, Gov. Landry, and State Sen. Cameron Henry, who represents the New Orleans district where Fair Grounds is located, had led the company to agree to a 2025-26 meet. The statement did not specify what the discussions yielded.
The Supreme Court ruling did not impact any other form of legal gambling in Louisiana aside from historical horse racing machines. Churchill replaced the video-lottery terminals at its 13 OTBs surrounding Fair Grounds with historical horse racing machines in 2023, shortly after purchasing a company that manufactures and operates the devices.
The ruling said that licensed OTBs could only operate devices that were approved by local voters, and it contended that historical horse racing machines were a new form of gambling device that had not been subject to local approval. Critics of Churchill’s threat to surrender its licenses contended that the company could reinstall the video-poker terminals at its OTBs in the affected parishes to mitigate the loss of the devices or sponsor local referenda to get approval for the devices.
Churchill has said that the HHR machines are more profitable than video-poker machines, in part because the company does not have to pay licensing fees for the HHR machines or cut an outside operating company in on the revenues.
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