The world of Louisiana horse racing got a major scare in May when Kentucky-based Churchill Downs threatened to surrender its New Orleans Fair Grounds license and pull out of Louisiana.
The company backed down after talks with state officials, and the racing season at one of the nation’s oldest tracks is scheduled to resume in November. But while that bullet was dodged, the horse racing business still faces pressures that include shifting consumer preferences amid more betting options, immigration crackdowns and the potential for federal regulation.
The Louisiana Racing Commission is tasked with overseeing an industry that, according to the commission’s stats, has an economic impact of more than $1 billion.
“We’re not only here to regulate horse racing,” says executive director Stephen Landry (no known relation to Gov. Jeff Landry, though the governor has been a big supporter of the industry). “We’re also supposed to promote it and help it grow.”
To understand the Fair Grounds kerfuffle, you have to go back to 2021, when the Legislature, at the urging of then-Senate President Page Cortez, approved legalizing “historical horse racing” as a new revenue source for the industry. Put simply, HHR is a system that allows players to use devices similar to video poker machines to place bets on replays of past horse races with identifying race details redacted.
But the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that HHR is a new kind of gaming, which means voters in the parish where the machines are located would have to approve legalizing it. Churchill Downs officials cited the loss of that revenue when making their threat, though commission members pointed to the fact that the company still was raking in record net revenue.
State lawmakers declined to give the company a direct subsidy, though they did approve legislation that expands video poker and dedicates some of the new revenue to the horse racing industry. Legislators and the New Orleans City Council also moved to prevent the Fair Grounds from being redeveloped for other purposes, which may have helped convince Churchill Downs to stay put.
Along with Churchill Downs, track owners in Louisiana include Boyd Gaming, which owns Evangeline Downs in Opelousas and Delta Downs in Vinton, and Premier Gaming Group, which owns Louisiana Downs in Bossier City. The other owners did not invest nearly as much in HHR and did not make a big public stink over losing it.
The Fair Grounds standoff illustrates a nationwide tension in the racing business. In most states, horse racing is supported by other forms of gaming under the same license that help to keep the racetracks alive.
But slot machines may be more profitable than racing, leading some companies to look at cutting back on the racing itself. In Florida this year, lawmakers considered, but eventually tabled, a proposal to allow thoroughbred racetracks to decouple their gaming businesses from live racing.
“Horse racing for now doesn’t seem to attract as many younger people as the alternative forms of gaming,” Landry says. “And so there’s a lot more competition for those betting dollars now.”
But the racing industry is evolving to meet modern expectations, he adds. In Louisiana, that means “investing in digital access, entertainment experiences and fan engagement to connect with the next generation of horseplayers.”
In June, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported arresting 84 “illegal aliens” at Delta Downs. Roughly three-quarters of the industry’s workforce consists of immigrants, according to some estimates, and a significant portion of them don’t have legal status.
ICE crackdowns could lead to workforce shortages that the commission and other industry leaders will have to deal with. The H-2B visa program for nonagriculture seasonal labor that includes working with animals reached its congressionally established cap for the 2025 fiscal year in March.
In 2020, federal lawmakers approved the bipartisan Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to standardize anti-doping and safety regulations in thoroughbred horse racing. The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit ruled key parts of the law unconstitutional last year, though the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled that justices may review that decision.
While the law effectively is in limbo, Louisiana is one of the states operating outside of HISA, which critics say increases costs without providing the touted safety benefits. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins has introduced legislation that would repeal the act that created it and allow states to enter interstate compacts instead.
Landry, for his part, is hoping that federal legislation isn’t needed at all. He’s more focused on basic “blocking and tackling,” like making things easier for the almost 13,000 people who have to be annually relicensed.
Starting next month, they finally will be able to pay for relicensing with credit cards, he says. By this fall, he expects to allow licensees to renew online.
“What we’re trying to do here is to be consistent, to be transparent, and to use all the technology that’s available to us,” Landry says.
—They said it (Part 1): “Let’s face it—we’re just as tired of the endless Morris Bart ads as we are of the GEICO lizard!” –Gov. Jeff Landry in a taxpayer-funded letter about recent legislation meant to lower insurance rates sent to more than 700,000 voters
—They said it (Part 2): “I’m actually glad to see this package pass as he can now STOP BLAMING ME for high auto insurance rates in Louisiana! And I’m looking forward to my rates going down! Let me know if your rates go down, too!” –Injury attorney Morris Bart on social media, showing off Landry’s letter
