The deal to sell the Birmingham Race Course to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians has been finalized.

The deal with the McGregor family, the racing venue’s longtime owners, was announced last November.

Terms of the deal were not announced, but the tribe categorized it as a “significant financial investment.”

Wind Creek Hospitality, the tribe’s gaming and hotel business, announced that in purchasing the racecourse, it “signals its long-term commitment to developing a world-class destination resort in Birmingham that will create good jobs, spur economic growth, and bring significant long-term benefits to the city and the region.”

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin in a statement welcomed the tribe and its plans for the future of the facility.

“More and more, Birmingham has a growing reputation as a destination for entertainment and sporting events, and this investment from the Poarch Creek Indians is a testament to the potential and vibrancy of our community,” Woodfin said.

“The redevelopment of the Birmingham Race Course will create jobs, drive tourism, and further establish our city as a key player in the entertainment and hospitality industry.”

Lewis Benefield, President of VictoryLand and the race course’s former president, said the facility is in “good hands.”

According to Wind Creek, the race course will continue to offer the parimutuel and historical horse racing games currently in operation.

“Wind Creek leaders will be working closely with local elected and racing officials as expansion plans are developed,” an announcement stated.

The tribe will spend the rest of the year solidifying plans to “expand facilities and operations in the future.”

Some of those plans may be contingent on Alabama’s lawmakers.

Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, is currently attempting to round up the votes in the state senate for a proposal for an Alabama lottery, legalized sports betting and other regulated gambling.

Albritton’s new bill includes most of the elements of last year’s comprehensive plan but would not allow full-scale casinos with table games.

A comprehensive gambling bill that started in the Alabama House last year was scaled back and eventually died by a single vote in the Senate.

It included a lottery, casinos, sports betting, a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and a commission to regulate gambling statewide.

The Alabama Constitution prohibits lotteries and gambling.

The Legislature would have to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to submit to voters, who would then have the final say.

Arthur Mothershed, executive vice president of business development and government relations for the Poarch Creeks, said the scope of the tribe’s plans for the Birmingham Racecourse will depend, in part, on whether there is new legislation and what it allows.

Read more: What’s next for the Birmingham Race Course? ‘There’s opportunity there‘

Wind Creek Hospitality, based in Atmore at the Tribe’s reservation, owns and operates properties in Alabama and deluxe hotel and casino properties in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, as well as resorts in the Caribbean.

PCI Tribal Chair and CEO Stephanie Bryan said the tribe is “committed to being good neighbors and to being a force for economic growth and positive change” in Birmingham.

The $85 million Birmingham Turf Club, as it was then known, welcomed more than 13,000 visitors on opening day, March 4, 1987.

It had a seven-story grandstand seating 5,200.

But on its one-year anniversary, the club was closed, with no working capital to operate. Its operators lost more than $50 million during a 175-day season.

Then in 1992, a referendum allowed dogs at the track.

New owner Milton McGregor began a $7 million conversion, putting the dog track inside the thoroughbred course. Horse racing ended at the venue in June 1995.

On two occasions over the next 20 years, the track needed bailout money to continue operating, one time running three years behind on property taxes.

McGregor’s family kept it going after his death in 2018.

In 2019, the course began offering machines that allowed users to place wagers on horse races that have already taken place, as simulcasting races elsewhere continued.

Live greyhound racing ceased at the Race Course in 2020, following the COVID-19 shutdown.