Hawthorne Race Course has notified Illinois regulators of the potential for 290 layoffs if the horse track is not sold to continue operations.
The advance notice of potential layoffs to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is required by law.
The track in west suburban Stickney is in bankruptcy proceedings to be sold to either continue as a race track or to be bulldozed in favor of real estate development. In case the winning bidder does not continue racing, the track will have to lay off its workforce.
The development is the latest in a string of bad news for the horse racing industry in Illinois.
Hawthorne filed for bankruptcy in February with more than $100 million in debt. It had bounced checks to horsemen and had liens filed against it by contractors.
In 2019, after years of delays, state lawmakers had given racetracks authority to add casinos to create lucrative “racinos” to save the industry, which was dying after increased competition from casinos and video gambling.
But Churchill Downs closed Arlington International Racecourse in 2021, leaving Hawthorne as the last track in the Chicago area, running both harness and thoroughbred races. Despite years of promises, Hawthorne was never able to get funding for a racino.
In May, Hawthorne got court permission to look into its allegations that the state was improperly diverting some of its funding to Fairmount Park in downstate Collinsville.
Strauss Borrelli, a class action law firm in Chicago, announced that it is investigating whether Hawthorne violated federal law by filing its layoff notice June 3, less than the required 60 days before potential layoffs on July 31. If so, employees may be entitled to 60 days of severance pay and benefits.
The executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, David McCaffrey, said people shouldn’t panic over the notification of potential layoffs. If a gaming business buys the track, that could save all those jobs.
“This is a black or white outcome,” he said. “Either it’s going to become a racino, or it’s going under the bulldozer. We’re very hopeful this continues as a racetrack for many years to come.”
