When Illinois Governor JB Pritzker legalized sports betting in June 2019 as part of a massive gaming expansion bill, one other component was giving the state’s horse racing tracks the option to expand into racinos that offer on-site casino gaming.

Nearly five years later, however, there are no racinos. The horse racing industry in Illinois continues to hold out hope that such venues will be the lifelines that start a renaissance for the “Sport of Kings.”

The state’s two existing racetracks, Hawthorne Race Course in the south Chicago suburbs of Stickney and FanDuel Horse Racing and Sportsbook — still more known as Fairmount Park — on the other side of the state in Collinsville near the Missouri border, are in various stages of constructing racinos, but there are no definitive timetables for either venue.