Kentucky Downs gets okay to operate more historical racing machines

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., received permission on Tuesday from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to increase the amount of historical racing machines it operates from 775 to 1,200.

The approval, which was unanimous among the commission members, reflects the significant growth in betting through the machines over the past two years, as the machines have evolved to more closely match consumer tastes. Handle on Kentucky Downs’s machines has grown more than 50 percent over the last two years, according to KHRC records, from $413 million in fiscal year 2016 to $654 million in the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year.

Kentucky Downs uses revenues from the machines to fund the highest per-day purses in the country, approximately $2 million a day for the five days of the all-turf meet scheduled this year in September. Net commission from the machines to Kentucky Downs’s owners in fiscal year 2018 has been $42.2 million over the same period, up 55.7 percent over the full fiscal year of 2016, according to KHRC records.

Kentucky Downs plans a major expansion of its gambling floor to accommodate the new machines, the commission said. The expansion will also need to be approved by the commission.

Last week, Kentucky Downs, which is located on the border with Tennessee and has no local competition for casino-style gambling, reached an agreement to distribute $500,000 from its purse account to each of three other Kentucky tracks, Ellis Park, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs. The track had previously distributed $3 million in 2016 and 2017 to Ellis Park to bolster its purses.

Two other locations in Kentucky, Ellis Park in Henderson and the Red Mile in Lexington, operate the devices, which closely resemble slot machines and use the results of previously run horse races to generate payouts. A third location, owned by Churchill Downs and located at its Trackside training center property in Louisville, is scheduled to open this fall, with Sept. 1 the target date, according to Mike Ziegler, a Churchill official.