Hawthorne Silent for 2nd Straight Weekend; Fanatics Continues Without Interruptions in Illinois

Located seven miles from downtown Chicago, the Cicero, Illinois-based harness and thoroughbred track canceled its scheduled back-to-back 13-race cards from Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 10-11) late Friday. The move comes after Hawthorne also scratched its Jan. 3-4 racing dates.

The track’s latest financial woes became public after the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association (IHHA) posted a statement by Jeff Davis, the association’s president, on Friday, Jan. 2 that checks had been recently returned unpaid by banks. The horsemen previously raised the issue before Christmas.

“Hawthorne racetrack and the IHHA (Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association) have mutually agreed that during this difficult situation it would be best to vacate our races this weekend. These postponed days will be made up going forward. We are hopeful this issue will be resolved soon,” said a brief statement posted on the IHHA website last Friday.

In a more strongly worded statement last week, Davis said, “We are publicly calling on Hawthorne to provide a letter from their bank TODAY stating that these returned payments are indeed a glitch in their system and not a lack of available funds in their account. We cannot take Hawthorne’s word that this second round of bounced checks is an anomaly. Horsemen’s livelihoods depend on this money and we are well beyond the point where we can trust what Hawthorne tells us.”

To date, Hawthorne’s current meet has not started its third month of racing, which started on Nov. 7 and runs through Feb. 15. The track recently completed its latest thoroughbred meet (March 20-Nov. 3) and will run its next thoroughbred meet starting on March 29.

“Nothing new to report. We draw Wednesday (Jan. 14) for this weekend’s races,” said Tony Somone, Executive Director, IHHA in an email to GamblingInsider.com Monday morning. “We are hopeful that Hawthorne will have their financing in order by then and that the bounced checks will be made good. They continue to tell us that they are working on a fix for this problem and anticipate that happening any day now,”

The track has been in operation since 1891 and is one of the oldest continually run racetracks in the nation.

Fanatics: No Interruptions in Illinois

Hawthorne’s sports wagering partner, Fanatics Sportsbook, has had no interruptions in service for online or retail during the last two weekends of no live racing.

Fanatics has four OTB locations throughout Chicagoland (Hawthorne, Crestwood, Villa Park, Prospect Heights.) The company’s Illinois market access agreement with Hawthorne runs until September 2028 and was renewed by the IGB for an additional four years back in Sept. 2024.

Official October sports wagering figures in the Land of Lincoln show more than $118 million in handle for Fanatics, with Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) at $10.2 million. The number represented a 43% increase in revenue from September 2025, with handle holding steady at $118 million for the second straight month.

The company ranked third in the state behind DraftKings ($563.4 million handle, $49.4 million revenue) and FanDuel ($493.9 million handle, $46 million revenue).

Hawthorne’s obvious financial troubles raise questions about Fanatics’ market access in Illinois.

Some masters sports wagering licensees have yet to utilize their skins, and the Illinois Sports Wagering Act allows for up to three online sportsbooks to be untethered, although a license for an independent operator includes a $20 million up-front fee, far higher than those affiliated with a racetrack or casino.

One thing is for certain: Illinois residents are betting on the resurgent Chicago Bears without any issues online or in-person at a Fanatics Sportsbook.