History
In 1990, Virgil E. Cook, a prominent local businessman and longtime resident of Anderson, Indiana donated 110 acres (0.45 km2) of commercial real estate to the city for the sole purpose of developing a pari-mutuel racing facility. In 1992, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced plans to purchase Indiana's only pari-mutuel license from businessman Louis Carlo and open a racetrack on the site of the land donated by Cook. It was the first racetrack outside Kentucky owned by Churchill Downs since 1939. In February 1994 a contract was signed for the construction of Hoosier Park. The construction of the facility cost approximately $13 million dollars. On September 1, 1994 the track finally opened. A crowd of 7,633 came to the grand opening of the standardbred season. The track announces plans to open four off-track betting facilities in Indiana. On October 7, 1995 the first Indiana Derby was run.
Churchill Downs sold Hoosier Park in April 2007 for 8.2 million dollars to Centaur Group.
Legislation was passed shortly after April 2007 to permit slot machines at both tracks, essentially converting them to what is called a "racino". Both tracks were legislated to get a 55 percent share of the estimated $325 million the 2,000 slots at each of the state's two tracks were expected to generate annually. This would also increase the purse sizes of the races.
Hoosier Park Casino opened to the public on June 2, 2008.
Read more about this topic: Hoosier Park
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