Two years and two ownerships in the making, a historical horse racing machine (HRM) parlor at Kentucky’s Ellis Park track is finally making progress. In an announcement Monday morning, Churchill Downs said it had secured a site adjacent to Ellis Park and that HRM proceeds would go toward underwriting purses at the track.
The news is the culmination of a lengthy process that accelerated last September when Churchill Downs purchased the Owensboro racing oval — for which an HRM venue was already planned — for $79 million. At the time, Churchill Downs’s CEO William Carstanjen said, “In the coming days, we look forward to sharing more about our plans to invest in the racing infrastructure at Ellis Park and to drive significant purse improvement through the Owensboro historical racing opportunity.”
“The coming days” turned out to be six months. But under previous ownership, the HRM parlor was supposed to open by early 2023. In October 2021, Ellis Park announced a 60,000-square-foot “racing and gaming destination” for Towne Square Mall. The new venue was to have incorporated a stadium-style sports bar and an unspecified number of HRMs.
Those machines underwrote 70 percent of Ellis Park’s purses, but were ruled illegal by the Kentucky Supreme Court. A legislative fix in February 2021 restored the status quo. The bill divided Owensboro-area lawmakers, with two voting in favor of and two against SB 120.
Churchill Downs is the third entity to make a run at casino-style entertainment in the greater Owensboro area. In addition to the absorbed Ellis Entertainment Owensboro, developer John Bays had a swing and a miss at a quasi-casino venue at the city’s waterfront, either aboard a riverboat or at the Executive Inn Rivermont.
The Churchill Downs-planned HRM hall is set for a location outside Owensboro, apparently not Towne Square Mall. A call to Churchill Downs seeking clarification and additional details was not returned by press time.
