On April 28, 1966, Evangeline Downs opened for business in its original location along U.S. Highway 167 (also known as the Evangeline Thruway, and today as Interstate Highway 49) at Carencro, Louisiana, just north of the city limits of
Lafayette, Louisiana. In 1982, Rodney Verret,
Ted Haik, Sam Rankin, and Joe Jones bought the track for $12.4 million. In 1985, they sold it to Norman Denny and Larry Willis for $16.5 million. Denny and Willis soon ran into financial problems. After a missed payment of purse money, the Louisiana Racing Commission threatened to shut down the track. Evangeline Downs was forced to file for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and closed indefinitely in October 1986. Races resumed in April 1987. Evangeline Downs added
video poker machines in 1992. In a 1996 election, Lafayette Parish voters enacted a parish-wide ban on video poker. As a result, the track made plans to move to St. Landry Parish, whose voters had rejected a similar ban. They bought the remaining half several months later from William Trotter for another $15 million, plus 0.5% of slot revenues for the first ten years. Peninsula carried out the move to Opelousas, opening a casino at the new site in late 2003, with races following in 2005. Peninsula was acquired by
Boyd Gaming in November 2012. In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65
thoroughbred racetracks in
North America. Of the top ten, Evangeline Downs was ranked #6. In 2020, the original site in Carencro was converted into a distribution center for
Amazon. ==Sports==