How Louisiana racinos work
Louisiana treats its four racetracks differently from its other casinos. Riverboats, the land-based casino in New Orleans and tribal resorts may offer table games; the tracks may not. Their floors hold slot machines only, video reels and video poker. Each slot license is tied to a racing license, so the casino exists because the horses run.
Slots arrived after state legislation and local elections in the parishes concerned, and the tracks opened their floors one by one: Delta Downs on February 13, 2002, Louisiana Downs on May 21, 2003, Evangeline Downs on December 19, 2003, and the Fair Grounds on September 19, 2007. Each date still heads the state’s monthly report.
Oversight is split. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board licenses the slots, the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division audits the floors and publishes monthly numbers, and the Louisiana State Racing Commission sets race dates and approves stakes schedules. Readers new to the format can start with what is a racino before comparing the tracks below.
Louisiana racinos at a glance
| Venue | City | Racing | Gaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Downs | Vinton | Quarter horse and thoroughbred | 1,500+ slots, FanDuel Sportsbook, hotel |
| Evangeline Downs | Opelousas | Thoroughbred and quarter horse | 1,000+ slots and video poker, FanDuel Sportsbook |
| Fair Grounds | New Orleans | Thoroughbred | 600+ slots, sportsbook kiosks |
| Louisiana Downs | Bossier City | Thoroughbred and quarter horse | 800+ slots, sportsbook |
Delta Downs is the resort of the group, with a 370-room hotel, an event center and more than 1,500 machines a short drive from the Texas line. Its quarter horse season ends in July with the Lee Berwick Futurity, a $200,000-added race whose 2020 purse topped $1 million, a record for any Louisiana horse race.
Evangeline Downs is Boyd Gaming’s second Louisiana track, set on more than 750 acres east of Opelousas. Night racing is its signature, with a 73-night thoroughbred season in 2026 and a fall quarter horse meet that closes on December 19 with a twelve-stake card led by the LQHBA Million Futurity.
The Fair Grounds in New Orleans is the oldest and most prestigious of the four, a Churchill Downs Inc. property where racing on the site dates to 1838. Its winter meet carries the Louisiana Derby, a major Kentucky Derby prep, and the non-smoking slots hall holds more than 600 machines on Gentilly Boulevard.
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City has changed hands more than the others. Harrah’s bought it in 2002, VICI Properties took the real estate in 2017, and Rubico Acquisition Corp. paid $22 million and took over on November 1, 2021. The Super Derby, revived in 2023, closes its thoroughbred meet each September.
Slots revenue and where it goes
The Louisiana State Police report for July 2026 gives a clear picture of the slots floors at the four Louisiana racinos. Combined, they drew 203,802 admissions and $26,976,892 in adjusted gross revenue over 31 gaming days, up 2.7 percent on July 2025. Delta Downs alone took more than half of that total.
| Track | July 2026 AGR | Admissions | Slots since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Downs | $14,180,414 | 76,654 | 2002 |
| Evangeline Downs | $6,824,824 | 44,801 | 2003 |
| Fair Grounds | $3,139,313 | 36,837 | 2007 |
| Louisiana Downs | $2,832,341 | 45,510 | 2003 |
Before the state takes its share, 18 percent of adjusted gross revenue is deducted for the industry: 15 percent to purse supplements, 2 percent to the thoroughbred breeders’ association and 1 percent to the quarter horse breeders’ association. The state’s tax on the remaining proceeds came to $4,092,395 in July 2026. The racino revenue guide compares other states.
The horse racing calendar across the state
Because the four meets overlap only partly, Louisiana horse racing runs nearly all year. Winter belongs to the Fair Grounds and Louisiana Downs’ quarter horses, spring and summer to Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs and the Louisiana Downs thoroughbreds, and the autumn to Evangeline’s quarter horses before New Orleans opens again in November.
| Track | 2026-27 meets |
|---|---|
| Fair Grounds | November 19, 2026 to March 21, 2027 |
| Louisiana Downs | Quarter horses January to March; thoroughbreds May 2 to September 30, 2026 |
| Delta Downs | Quarter horses April 24 to July 18, 2026; thoroughbreds in the fall and winter |
| Evangeline Downs | Thoroughbreds April 3 to September 7; quarter horses October 1 to December 19, 2026 |
Most Louisiana horse racing happens at night outside New Orleans. Evangeline’s first post in 2026 was 5:30 p.m., Delta Downs started at 6:15 p.m., and Louisiana Downs’ thoroughbred cards ran from 4:05 p.m. The Fair Grounds keeps afternoon racing at 12:55 p.m. The national horse racing schedule shows how these dates fit with other states.
Historical horse racing and the 2025 dispute
Louisiana racinos earn more than slot money. The Fair Grounds also operates 13 off-track betting rooms with video poker. A 2021 law allowed historical horse racing machines in those rooms, but it was challenged in court, and in 2025 the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the machines violated the state constitution.
The decision cost the Fair Grounds a revenue stream it relied on, and in June 2025 Churchill Downs Inc. told the Racing Commission it intended to surrender its license. Governor Jeff Landry, legislative leaders, horsemen and the New Orleans City Council negotiated a deal, and the commission ratified 2025-26 dates on June 25.
A short history of track slots in Louisiana
Racing came long before casinos. The Fair Grounds site has hosted racing since 1838, Evangeline Downs opened at Carencro in 1966, Delta Downs in 1973 and Louisiana Downs in 1974. Video poker reached some tracks in the 1990s, and when Lafayette Parish voters banned it in 1996, Evangeline Downs planned its move to St. Landry Parish.
Slot machines changed the ownership map. Boyd Gaming bought Delta Downs in 2001 and later added Evangeline Downs through its 2012 purchase of Peninsula Gaming, while Harrah’s took over Louisiana Downs and Churchill Downs Inc. bought the Fair Grounds in 2004. The history of racinos covers how other states followed similar paths.
Racinos in neighboring states
Visitors from north Louisiana often look across the state line. Arkansas has its own racing casino in Hot Springs, covered on the Arkansas page, and Oklahoma’s tracks are listed on the Oklahoma page. Florida, the other Gulf state with track slots, has only one remaining racino, described on the Florida racinos page.
Texas has horse tracks but no slot machines at them, which is why so many Houston and Beaumont drivers make the trip east to Vinton. For distances from any city, the racinos near me map lists every track casino in the country, and the pari-mutuel betting guide explains how wagering works at all of them.