There is a bill slowly grinding its way through the Illinois General Assembly that would allow construction of harness racetrack crammed with as many as 1,200 slot machines in Richton Park.

Did I just write that?

In Richton Park?

Late last month, the Illinois Senate passed, by a vote of 49-8, a bill that would clear the path for the start of construction of such a facility, a sports palace which Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold thinks could be built along the Sauk Trail-Laraway Road pathway just east of Harlem Avenue.

Hold on to your wallet, sports fans. This is still Illinois and, according to state Sen. Patrick Joyce, who along with state Rep. Anthony DeLuca are two of the eight co-sponsors of the bill, there are speed bumps which could delay or even kill the plan.

The biggest obstacle is the Stickney-based Hawthorne Racetrack which is the oldest family-run racetrack in North America. It has the authority through legislation to stop the development of any other horse track within 35 miles of its location in Stickney.

For the record, the village of Richton Park is a mere 24 miles south of Stickney as the crow flies.

Last year, the Illinois Senate passed a bill eliminating that provision by January 2026, but when the House OK’d the bill this session it made some changes which now have to be approved again by the Senate.

Two key differences passed by the House were the elimination of Hawthorne’s veto power over construction of another racetrack and limiting Hawthorne to one horse race meeting a year. The House must now approve the amended bill when it meets next year before it goes to Gov. JB Pritzker for his approval.

If Hawthorne’s ban on a nearby track is eliminated, the Illinois Racing Board could issue a license for a new track with a “limit” of no more than 1,200 slots on site. As a matter of record, the Wind Creek Casino in Homewood has more than 1,400 slot machines.

There is many a slip between legislative plans and final results, but if the bill runs into opposition in the House next year “we might have to start over again,” says Joyce.

Along with the potential for a trotting track in the south suburbs there is a similar bill that the Senate must also OK for a racetrack in Macon, Illinois, some 10 miles south of Decatur.

The horse racing industry has a long checkered history in the south suburbs. For 89 years, from 1926 to 2015, Lincoln Fields, later renamed Balmoral Park, situated near Crete, was the setting for both thoroughbred and standardbred racing. Perhaps the most famous horse to run at the track was the 1941 Triple Crown winner Whirlaway who, in June 1940, won his first race as a 2-year-old at the track.

In 2015, a U.S. Court of appeals judge fined both the owners of Balmoral and Maywood Park in Melrose Park $77.8 million as restitution to casinos in Joliet, Elgin and Auroa in the aftermath of a “pay to play” scheme involving the tracks’ contributions to then Gov. Rod Blagojavich.

Both tracks quickly filed for bankruptcy.

Balmoral opened two years later as a horse show arena, held some shows but by 2020 the facility was up for sale. Price was $4 million. There were no takers.

Homewood was the site of the Washington Park racetrack from 1926 until February 1977, when a fire destroyed the grandstand and put the facility out of business. During its heyday, it was a prime midsummer stop for thoroughbreds. Perhaps its biggest event was the Aug. 31,1955, match race with Nashua defeating Swaps for a purse of $100,000, which is the equivalent of $1,208,865 in today’s world.

Meanwhile Reinbold hopes things go his village’s way these days in another plan to improve his village’s financial lot.

Some two years ago, we commented about his request to the Chicago Bears to look at his community as the site of a new stadium. Everyone knew this was a pie in the sky idea and some thought it was a pointless bit of promotion.

Considering the seeming lack of enthusiasm in Chicago for almost all things south of City Hall, I thought that instead of asking “why” we should say “why not.”

Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.