Online Gambling Revenue Saves Kentucky's Churchill Downs
Ev en as the state of Kentucky continues to pursue action against 141 online gambling sites, one of the state's most famous businesses is surviving the recession with help from online betting. While Kentucky tries to seize the domain names of a group of Internet casinos, Churchill Downs is profiting from online gambling.CEO Bob Evans reported that revenue increased over the first quarter, due to a building online betting business. He stated that the Internet gambling portion should continue to become a larger percentage of Downs income "...because the growth rates of these new businesses are higher than [those in] racing."
Governor Steve Beshear claimed the forfeiture action against the online casinos was in part due to a need to protect horse racing jobs at Churchill Downs and other tracks. Yet the Washington Post has reported that the company has moved to increase online income at the expense of the live racing industry.
First-quarter revenue rose $8 million, roughly a twelve percent increase. The new revenue was generated by Internet betting and slots operating at a Louisiana track owned by Churchill Downs.
“We do not believe that tracks without slots can compete over time for horses with those tracks that have slots,” stated Evans, making observers wonder what future plans he had for the hallowed track under his guidance.
