Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby Could Be New US Online Casinos

Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby could be new online casinos in the future catering to non-US citizens, according to what CEO of Churchill Downs, Bob Evans said today at Greater Louisville Inc.'s annual small business luncheon.

The CEO did not seem too adamant about the idea of expanding his brands into the online sector, but he did note that his company is allowed to have an online presence because of the exemption for Internet horse wagering put in the US law that passed last year banning certain forms of Internet gambling.

He mostly gave tips for small business entrepeneurialship at the luncheon, but he did also emphasize that his company would be allowed to offer casino and gambling games outside of horse racing if they offered them to non-US citizens.

"Given the fact that the Kentucky Derby (and) Churchill Downs... are world renowned brands, why wouldn't we use those brands to enter into businesses that are outside our traditional core of thoroughbred racing," Evans said.

Evans' comments today came on the same day the small island nation of Antigua's WTO ruling became official. The island's economy was destroyed because the US will not allow US bettors to gamble at their casinos. The Internet casinos were the #1 source of income for the small island nation.

The irony is that American based businesses can run Internet gambling operations and offer the games to non-US citizens. Playboy Gaming Casino is a US company that is currently running an Internet casino that caters to UK and Canadian online gamblers.



2007-05-22