Churchill Downs Profiili
Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) owns and operates live and historical racing entertainment venues.
Business Segments
The company operates through three reportable segments: Live and Historical Racing, TwinSpires, and Gaming.
Live and Historical Racing segment
The Live and Historical Racing segment includes live and historical pari-mutuel racing related revenue and expenses at Churchill Downs Racetrack and the company’s historical racing properties in Kentucky, Virginia, and New Hampshire.
The company’s Live and Historical Racing properties earn commissions primarily from pari-mutuel wagering on live and historical races, simulcast fees earned from other wagering sites, fees from racing event-related services, including admissions, personal seat licenses, sponsorships, television rights, and other miscellaneous services, and revenue from food and beverage services.
Churchill Downs Racetrack
Churchill Downs Racetrack is in Louisville, Kentucky and is an internationally known thoroughbred racing operation best known as the home of the company’s iconic flagship event, the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuously held annual sporting event in the U.S. and is the first race of the annual series of races for 3-year-old thoroughbreds known as the Triple Crown. The demographic profile of the company’s guests, global television viewership and long-running nature of this iconic event are attractive to sponsors and corporate partners, especially those with luxury and/or marquee brands.
The company conducted 76 live race days in 2022. In 2023, the company anticipates conducting up to 79 live race days.
Churchill Downs Racetrack is located on 175 acres and has a one-mile dirt track, a 7/8-mile turf track, a stabling area, and a variety of areas, structures, and buildings that provide reserved seating for approximately 59,000 of the company’s patrons. Churchill Downs Racetrack has one of the largest 4K video boards in the world sitting 80 feet above the ground and measuring 171 feet wide by 90 feet tall. This video board provides views of the finish line and the entire race for on-track guests, including those in the infield and guests along the entire front side of the racetrack. The facility also has permanent lighting to accommodate night races. The company has a saddling paddock, and the stable area has barns sufficient to accommodate 1,400 horses and a dormitory for backstretch personnel. It has an equine medical center and quarantine barns on the backside area of Churchill Downs Racetrack, which reinforces the company’s ongoing commitment to equine safety and supports the company’s long-term international growth strategy. The Churchill Downs Racetrack facility also includes a simulcast wagering facility. The company also owns 83 acres of land at its auxiliary training facility, which is five miles from Churchill Downs Racetrack.
In 2002, the company transferred title of the Churchill Downs Racetrack facility to the City of Louisville, Kentucky and entered into a 30-year lease for the facility as part of the financing of improvements to the Churchill Downs Racetrack facility.
In July 2021, the company announced three major multi-year capital investments to transform key areas of Churchill Downs Racetrack: The Homestretch Club, the First Turn Experience, and the Paddock Project. The Homestretch Club project converted 5,200 outdoor bleacher seats into 3,250 premium reserved seats with all-inclusive amenities. The new premium reserved seats include 2,550 stadium club seats, 66 covered terraced dining tables for up to 440 guests, 30 Trackside Lounges for up to 200 guests offering a ‘courtside seat’ experience, five private 60-person VIP Hospitality Lounges as upgrades and an 18,600 square-foot indoor hospitality space with a grand staircase and 95-foot feature bar.
The First Turn Experience will provide additional permanent stadium seating and a new track-level hospitality club replacing current temporary Oaks and Derby seating at the first turn of the racetrack. The company plans to replace 3,400 temporary seats with 5,100 permanent covered stadium seats and a new 50,000 square-foot climate-controlled hospitality venue with reserved dining room tables, a trackside viewing terrace, and two new seating concourses to allow for better guest circulation and amenities for an incremental 2,000 reserved seats. The First Turn Experience is scheduled for completion for the 149th Kentucky Derby in May 2023.
The Paddock Project will create a larger paddock walking ring for viewing the horses prior to the races, a new Paddock Club in the area on the first floor under the Twin Spires that will provide views of the paddock and views of the tunnel that the horses walk through, new hospitality and other amenities for guests in certain areas of the third floor clubhouse seats, and new terraces overlooking the paddock. The new Paddock Project is scheduled for completion for the 150th Kentucky Derby in May 2024.
Kentucky
Louisville
The company owns Derby City Gaming, which is a HRM facility that was opened in September 2018 at the Churchill Downs Racetrack auxiliary training facility. Derby City Gaming operates under the Churchill Downs Racetrack pari-mutuel racing license and has a simulcast center and a dining facility.
Southwestern Kentucky
Oak Grove Racing & Gaming (Oak Grove) is a premier state-of-the-art live harness racing and HRM venue located on 240 acres approximately one-hour north of Nashville, Tennessee in Oak Grove, Kentucky. Oak Grove owns and operates a 5/8-mile harness racing track. In September 2020, the company opened the simulcast and HRM facility with an event center and food and beverage venues. The hotel opened in October 2020. Oak Grove also has a 1,200-person grandstand, 3,000-person capacity outdoor amphitheater and stage, a state-of-the-art equestrian center, and a recreational vehicle park.
Northern Kentucky
The company opened Newport Racing & Gaming (‘Newport’) in October 2020. Newport is an HRM entertainment venue, including a simulcast area that operates as an extension of Turfway Park. Turfway Park opened in September 2022 as a live thoroughbred racing and historical racing entertainment venue with a sports bar and food and beverage offerings.
Western Kentucky
The company acquired Ellis Park Racing & Gaming (‘Ellis Park’) on September 26, 2022 and assumed the opportunity to build an HRM entertainment venue in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Virginia
The company acquired Colonial Downs Racetrack (‘Colonial Downs’) and six historical racing entertainment venues in Virginia as part of the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC (‘P2E’) on November 1, 2022 (‘P2E Transaction’). Colonial Downs conducts live thoroughbred racing and has a one and one-quarter mile dirt track, the widest turf track oval in North America and two off-track betting facilities (‘OTBs’). The company is investing to construct a large gaming resort and hotel at the Dumfries, Virginia location with the potential for expansion of up to 1,800 HRMs. The Dumfries HRM (Historical Racing Machine) facility and hotel is scheduled for completion in 2024. The company is also investing to develop a seventh HRM entertainment venue in Emporia, Virginia with a planned opening in the second half of 2023.
New Hampshire
On September 2, 2022, the company completed the acquisition of Chasers Poker Room (‘Chasers’) located in Salem, New Hampshire. Chasers is a charitable gaming facility located approximately 30 miles from Boston, Massachusetts, that offers poker and a variety of table games. The company plans to develop an expanded charitable gaming facility in Salem to accommodate HRMs and table games. The company plans to invest in Salem, inclusive of the amount paid to the sellers of Chasers to build the expanded facility.
TwinSpires segment
The TwinSpires segment includes the revenue and expenses for the TwinSpires Horse Racing, the TwinSpires Sports and Casino and the United Tote businesses. These businesses are headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
Horse Racing
TwinSpires Horse Racing operates the online horse racing wagering business for TwinSpires.com, BetAmerica.com, and other white-label platforms; facilitates high dollar wagering by certain customers; and provides the Bloodstock Research Information Services platform for horse racing statistical data.
TwinSpires is one of the largest and most profitable legal online horse racing wagering platforms in the U.S. TwinSpires accepts pari-mutuel wagers through advance deposit wagering (‘ADW’) from customers residing in certain states who establish and fund an account from which these customers may place wagers via telephone, mobile applications or through the Internet. This business is licensed as a multi-jurisdictional simulcasting and interactive wagering hub in the state of Oregon and also holds licenses from various other states where applicable. This business also offers customers streaming video of live horse races, replays, and an assortment of racing and handicapping information. BetAmerica.com is an online wagering business licensed under TwinSpires that offers wagering on horse racing throughout the U.S. The company also provides technology services to third parties, and it earns commissions from white label ADW products and services. Under these arrangements, the company typically provides an ADW platform and related operational services while the third party typically provides the brand, marketing, and limited customer functions.
The company announced two of these business-to-business agreements in 2022. On September 8, 2022, the company announced a multi-year agreement to enable FanDuel, a sportsbook and mobile betting operator, to create a fully integrated and seamless wagering experience with a single wallet for horse racing and sports with exclusive TV rights to racing content and non-exclusive Kentucky Derby sponsorship rights for sports wagering. On November 29, 2022, the company announced a multi-year agreement to provide DraftKings ADW technology and other services.
Sports and Casino
The company’s TwinSpires Sports and Casino business includes the results of its retail sportsbooks at its wholly-owned gaming properties and through third parties in Michigan and Arizona. The company exited the direct online Sports and Casino business during 2022 in every state except Pennsylvania and Arizona. The company executed strategic market access agreements with Bet365 in Pennsylvania and with Golden Nugget in Indiana to monetize its online wagering skins beginning in 2023.
United Tote
United Tote manufactures and operates pari-mutuel wagering systems for racetracks, OTBs and other pari-mutuel wagering businesses. United Tote provides totalisator services, which accumulate wagers, calculate payoffs and displays wagering data to patrons who wager on horse races. United Tote has contracts to provide totalisator services to several third-party racetracks, OTBs and other pari-mutuel wagering businesses and provides these services at its facilities. On August 11, 2022, the company entered into an agreement to sell 49% of United Tote, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company to NYRA Content Management Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of the New York Racing Association (‘NYRA’). NYRA is a not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse racing tracks in the state of New York. The transaction is subject to usual and customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory notices and approvals, and is expected to close during the first half of 2023.
Gaming segment
The Gaming segment includes revenue and expenses for the casino properties and associated racetracks which support the casino license. The Gaming segment generates revenue and expenses from slot machines, table games, video lottery terminals (‘VLTs’), video poker, HRM's, ancillary food and beverage services, hotel services, commission on pari-mutuel wagering, racing event-related services, and other miscellaneous operations.
Wholly-owned Gaming Properties
Florida
Calder Casino (‘Calder’) in Miami Gardens, Florida is located near Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins. Calder offers two dining facilities and an entertainment venue. On June 17, 2022, the company closed on the sale of 115.7 acres of land near Calder to Link Logistics Real Estate, a Blackstone portfolio company. The company may sell 15-20 acres of this land in the future for retail development.
Iowa
As part of the P2E Transaction, the company acquired Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sioux City (‘Hard Rock Sioux City’), which is a gaming facility and a hotel.
Indiana
The company is investing in the development of the Terre Haute Casino Resort (‘Terre Haute’) in Terre Haute, Indiana. Terre Haute will be a gaming entertainment venue featuring 400,000 square-feet space with slot machines, table games, a luxury hotel, a retail sportsbook, and several food and beverage offerings. Terre Haute is scheduled to be completed in early 2024.
Louisiana
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots (‘Fair Grounds’) is a gaming facility and race course with a bar, a simulcast facility, a one-mile dirt track, a 7/8-mile turf track, a grandstand, and a stabling area. Fair Grounds conducts approximately 80 live racing days each year. The facility includes clubhouse and grandstand seating for approximately 5,000 guests, a general admissions area, and dining facilities. The stable area consists of barns that can accommodate approximately 1,900 horses and living quarters for approximately 130 people. Fair Grounds also operates pari-mutuel wagering in 15 OTBs and Video Services LLC (‘VSI’) is the owner and operator of video poker machines in 12 OTBs in Louisiana.
Maine
Oxford Casino and Hotel (‘Oxford’), located in Oxford, Maine, is a gaming facility with a hotel and one dining facility.
Maryland
Ocean Downs Casino and Racetrack is a gaming facility with a racetrack that conducts approximately 40 live harness racing days each year.
Mississippi
Harlow’s Casino Resort and Spa is a gaming facility and hotel. Riverwalk Casino Hotel owns and operates a hotel and two dining facilities.
New York
As part of the P2E Transaction, the company acquired del Lago Resort and Casino (‘del Lago’) in Waterloo, New York, which is a gaming facility and a hotel.
Pennsylvania
Presque Isle Downs and Casino (‘Presque Isle’) is a gaming facility with a racetrack that conducts 90 live thoroughbred racing days each year.
The company manages Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin (‘Lady Luck Nemacolin’), approximately one mile from the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort under a management agreement that expires in June 2023.
Equity Investments
Illinois
The company acquired 61.3% equity ownership in Midwest Gaming Holdings, LLC (‘Midwest Gaming’), the parent company of Rivers Casino Des Plaines (‘Rivers Des Plaines’), in March 2019. Rivers Des Plaines is a gaming entertainment venue located on 21 acres and has seven dining and entertainment facilities, and an approximate 5,000 square-foot BetRivers Sports Bar. During 2022, Rivers Des Plaines completed a 78,000 square-foot expansion between the existing casino building and the recently enlarged parking garage. The two-story addition includes a new restaurant and an expanded gaming floor on the first floor, as well as a poker room, a 10,000 square-foot ballroom for private events and live entertainment, and a slot machine gaming area on the second floor. The expansion also added approximately 725 additional gaming positions.
Ohio
The company has a 50% equity investment in Miami Valley Gaming and Racing (‘MVG’). MVG is a gaming entertainment venue with a race course, racing simulcast center, a 5/8-mile harness racetrack, and a retail sportsbook.
All Other
The company has aggregated Arlington International Racecourse (‘Arlington’), as well as certain corporate operations, and other immaterial joint ventures in All Other to reconcile to consolidated results.
Arlington
Arlington is located on 326 acres in Arlington Heights, Illinois. On February 15, 2023, the company closed on the previously announced agreement to sell the property to the Chicago Bears.
Governmental Regulations
TwinSpires is licensed in Oregon under a multi-jurisdictional simulcasting and interactive wagering totalisator hub license issued by the Oregon Racing Commission in accordance with Oregon law and the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, as amended in 2000.
Environmental Matters
The company is subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations that govern activities that may have adverse environmental effects, such as discharges to air and water, as well as the management and disposal of solid, animal and hazardous wastes and exposure to hazardous materials. These laws and regulations, which are complex and subject to change, include the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state laws and regulations that address the impacts of manure and wastewater generated by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) on water quality, including but not limited to, storm and sanitary water discharges.
History
Churchill Downs Incorporated was founded in 1875. The company was incorporated in 1937.
