ONLINE REVENUES MAKE A USEFUL CONTRIBUTION TO RACING
COMPANY
15 May 2009
But management criticised for too much focus
on Internet operations
The exemptions in US law that allow the horseracing
industry to take bets over the Internet seem to be
working well for the major Churchill Downs Inc track
operator. So well, in fact, that it has attracted
criticism from the press as distracting management from
the core live racing business.
The Louisville
Courier-Journal reports that the exchange between
management and media took place during a conference call
discussing the company's first quarter 2009 results.
Washington Post columnist Andrew Beyer criticised the
focus by Churchill on the new online wagering business
in a Kentucky Derby week piece, citing disputes
Churchill had over the last year with horsemen's groups
on how to share revenue from account wagering, and CEO
Bob Evans defended his company.
"We aren't
abandoning racing," Evans said. "We're rebuilding it."
Evans went on to confirm that the company's results are
increasingly benefitting from non-pari-mutuel gaming and
its online pari-mutuel business, TwinSpires.com, and
those trends will continue "...because the growth rates
of these new businesses are higher than [those in]
racing."
The Washington Post writer had opined
that Churchill's bid to increase income was at the
expense of the owners and trainers who put on the show
at the tracks.
Evans made a general response in
which he pointed out that "every single dollar spent by
Churchill Downs on slot operations and online operations
produces more purses for horsemen at CDI tracks, expands
the customer base to which we can market racing and
makes CDI a stronger financial entity, which enables us
to make more investments and take greater risks."
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
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