The $90 million Derby City Gaming Downtown opened in December in downtown Louisville, Ky. with high expectations. But in its first four months of operation, the venue has generated the least amount of revenue among the state’s 12 historical horse racing (HHR) facilities, except in December when it narrowly surpassed Sandy’s Racing & Gaming in Ashland.
Kentucky Horse Racing Commission data indicated Derby City Gaming Downtown produced only 25 percent of the revenue per machine of the original Derby City Gaming off Poplar Level Road.
In December, Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen said the venue was a “much needed entertainment facility in this region” and “an investment in the spirit and the culture and the future of our city.”
But in an April 25 earnings call, Carstanjen said, “We thought it would start relatively modestly because a big component of its business is going to be driven by tourism and downtown traffic. And opening in December and the height of winter in Louisville is not the ideal time to open. So, what we’re seeing is pretty consistent ramping. Let’s get some of the spring and summer months under our belts and then we can really have a much better sense of what to expect in the long term.”
The original Derby City Gaming in suburban Louisville has consistently been the state’s highest-grossing HHR venue since it opened in 2018. Since then, Churchill Downs has added five other HHR venues in Kentucky and has expanded to Virginia, New Hampshire and Wyoming. The company also purchased Exacta Systems which manufactures the software that runs the machines.
