Prairie Meadows is a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

and

Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

located in

Altoona, Iowa Altoona is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States, and is a part of the Des Moines metropolitan area. The population was 19,565 at the 2020 census. Altoona is home of the Adventureland amusement park and Prairie Meadows horse racing track ...

, United States.

History and information

In 1984, Prairie Meadows received a license from the Iowa Racing and Gaming commission to operate a horse racing facility after

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

was legalized by the state the previous year. In 1987, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Prairie Meadows. Prairie Meadows conducted its first day of racing on March 1, 1989. However, the track lost money during its first few years of operation and filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in November 1991. Live racing was suspended for the 1992 season before revenues from off-track betting allowed racing to resume the following year. On May 17, 1994,

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

voters approved a referendum allowing the installation of slot machines at Prairie Meadows. On April 1, 1995, the slot machine casino opened at Prairie Meadows, and by the end of 1996, Prairie Meadows was able to pay off the bonds that were issued by the Polk County Board of Supervisors. On December 14, 2004, Prairie Meadows added

casino game Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, wher ...

tables after receiving state approval to do so. As a result of the high demand for these tables, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved Prairie Meadows' plans to expand its facility on January 25, 2005. Construction on the $60 million expansion began in September 2005. An addition to the casino opened in August 2006, while two new restaurants and a 1,200-seat concert hall known as "The Meadows" opened in February 2007. Prairie Meadows is owned by Polk County and operated by a local, non-profit, 13-member board of directors. The revenues generated by Prairie Meadows are given to various community projects in the

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

area, including construction of the

Iowa Events Center The Iowa Events Center is a public events complex located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History The Iowa Events Center consists of the existing Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, the existing Polk County Convention C ...

complex in downtown Des Moines. Prairie Meadows' gross revenue for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2008, was nearly $193 million. That total ranked second to the Horseshoe Casino in

Council Bluffs Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is lo ...

among Iowa's casinos. On January 16, 2019, Prairie Meadows announced a partnership with bookmaker William Hill in preparation for the proposed legalization of sports betting in Iowa.

Physical attributes

Prairie Meadows has a one-mile dirt track with a chute for quarter horses. On site is a casino with 1,900

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s and

tables featuring games such as

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

, and

blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

. The track area has also hosted free concerts by national musical acts in recent years.

Racing

Prairie Meadows runs many stakes and handicaps during its April to October season.

Graded events

The following Graded events were held at Prairie Meadows in 2019. Grade III * Iowa Oaks * Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap In addition, other animals such as

ostriches Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...

have raced at the facility.

References

External links

Official Site
{{coord, 41.654782, -93.488385, type:landmark, display=title Casinos in Iowa Horse racing venues in Iowa Buildings and structures in Polk County, Iowa Sports in Des Moines, Iowa Sports venues in Greater Des Moines Sports venues in Iowa Tourist attractions in Polk County, Iowa 1989 establishments in Iowa