Churchill Downs Decline Fueled By Online Casino Boycott

The stock price of Churchill Downs, Inc., opened significantly off Friday, although midday bargain hunters accounted for a partial recovery of lost value. The company, which owns several race tracks, including the eponymous Kentucky legend, as well as the online gambling site TwinSpires.com, began the day near a year-long low at $30.04.

The general market downturn has affected Churchill Downs' value, but more immediately, a call by a slew of Internet websites to boycott the track and its affiliated businesses seems to also have put some worry in investors.

Online Casino Advisory's head gambling analyst, Sherman Bradley, first suggested the boycott as a response to the Kentucky online casino domain name case. In this case, Governor Beshear is attempting to effectively shut down international businesses as a protectionist measure for Kentucky-based gambling, including Churchill Downs.

While attorneys continue to fight the order as unconstitutional and without jurisdiction, various websites have asked readers who value Internet freedom and personal choice to demonstrate their rejection of the Governor's plan by boycotting all Kentucky products. The issue has spread far beyond gaming sites to draw civil libertarians and Internet entrepreneurs.

Churchill Downs remains at the crux of the boycott. Even though the track is preparing to open a live racing season, has installed new high-definition coverage of races, and announced the landing of the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2010, the good news could not prevent the bad publicity of the boycott from causing a sell-off.

As the bell prepared to sound for the weekend, the share price was at $31.58, down $0.56 or 1.74 percent for the day. Since the call to boycott began, the stock has been in a slow decline, with heaviest trading during the downward spikes.