Historical Horse Racing Gaming

Pat Brown, the director of The Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga, knows what makes an agenda tick. He has seen his fair share of seemingly endless Power Points, glazed-over eyes and the attendees that surf the Internet in an attempt to multitask. The best way to combat the conference malaise? Just a healthy dose of fun. "I've spent over 40 years of in and out of government, thinking about and writing about the gaming and horse racing industry," said Brown, a former advisor to New York's Governor Mario Cuomo...

One of the great success stories in American racing over the last decade or so has been the emergence of Kentucky Downs, which opens its 2021 six-day meet on Sunday. Much of that has to do with the stewardship on Ron Winchell, who, along with partner Marc Falcone, purchased the track in 2019. Thanks in large part to Historical Horse Racing machines, Kentucky Downs was already making plenty of money when Winchell and Falcone took over, but they never grew complacent. Rather, they have continually looked to make Kentucky Downs...

An earnings conference call with investors Thursday morning underscored that Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), intends to sell Arlington International Racecourse near Chicago for "non-horse racing" purposes. The gaming corporation with six Thoroughbred tracks in its portfolio also announced Feb. 25 that the previously halted reconstruction project at Turfway Park has resumed now that a Kentucky bill to legally redefine historical horse race [HHR] gaming has been signed into law. But pandemic-delayed flagship property plans for a hotel, HHR facility, and track amenities expansion at Churchill Downs itself all remain on...

    The "emergency" bill to legalize historical horse race (HHR) gaming by defining "pari-mutuel wagering" to include previously run races passed the Kentucky State Senate late Tuesday afternoon 22-15, with one senator not casting a vote. Proponents of the bill are aiming to align HHR in a way that they believe will make the slots-like form of gaming constitutionally legal so the machines can keep generating $2.2. billion in annual handle. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund's purse-money cut from HHR is three-quarters of 1% of that handle. Senators speaking...