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Churchill Downs to Shutter TwinSpires Sportsbook and Online Casino

CEO rues the cost of promotions 📉

by - Friday, February 25th, 2022 10:33
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs to Shutter TwinSpires Sportsbook and Online Casino

In an announcement made during a conference call with investors on Thursday, CEO Bill Carstanjen said:

“When the Supreme Court overturned the ban on sports betting in 2018, we had high hopes for building a profitable business in this space. We have profitable retail books in four of our casinos.

Churchill Downs to Shutter TwinSpires Sportsbook and Online Casino

We will exit the (business-to-consumer) online wagering space. This isn’t the result we wanted, but it is the prudent next step.”

Churchill Downs to Shutter TwinSpires Sportsbook and Online Casino

During the call, he cited the loss of an additional $13.9 million from the prior year’s quarter due to a $9.5 million increase in the loss from Sports and Casino as a result of increased marketing and promotional activities as a contributing factor to the closure. However, he noted that the company is still fully committed to its horse wagering business saying:

Churchill Downs to Shutter TwinSpires Sportsbook and Online Casino

In December of 2021, the company fielded rumors that it was set to offload its sports wagering and online casino division which was estimated at the time to be worth somewhere in the region of $1.5 billion. Amid those rumors, the company continued to forge ahead with a launch in New Jersey, the eighth state that the sportsbook was available in.

Despite the division losing money during 2021, the news of the shuttering of its sports wagering and online casino division in preference to an outright sale came as a surprise to investors.

Image credit: Abbie Myers / CC BY-SA 4.0

Ciaran McEneaney

Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.