Churchill Downs Inc. Buys Exacta Systems To Help With HHR Gaming

Written By Matthew Bain on December 19, 2022 - Last Updated on May 2, 2023
CDI buys Exacta Systems for HHR gaming, from playkentucky.com

Churchill Downs Inc. announced this week it has acquired Exacta Systems, a historical horse racing technology company.

The $250 million purchase will help CDI realize synergies related to the Virginia HHR properties — Colonial Downs and its Rosie’s Gaming Emporium facilities — it purchased in February 2022.

“For nearly a decade, Exacta has been a creative force supporting the growth of historical horse racing in the U.S.,” CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said in a statement. “We look forward to expanding Exacta’s national footprint and further diversifying the game offerings available to players at (HHR) facilities around the country.”

What is HHR gaming?

HHR gaming involves electronic game machines that play just like slot machines, but they aren’t technically slot machines. Instead or using random number generators to determine winnings, HHR machines determine winnings based on horse races that have already been run — and they use pari-mutuel wagering, which is how Kentucky horse race betting is also legal.

Exacta Systems works with HHR companies AGS, IGT, Light & Wonder, Everi, Konami, and Incredible Technologies in Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming, and New Hampshire.

In February, CDI announced a massive, $2.5 billion purchase of all the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, which include Colonial Downs, del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo, New York, and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, Iowa.

In addition to its horse racetrack, Colonial Downs operates six HHR facilities in Virginia with around 2,700 HHR machines.

Next steps with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment purchase

Included in that $2.5 billion purchase are rights to a seventh Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Virginia and the Dumfries Project, a planned HHR gaming resort with 1,800 machines in Northern Virginia.

“This unique set of assets expands our geographic footprint and provides additional scale,” Carstanjen said in a release. “(Peninsula Pacific Entertainment) has done an exceptional job developing and managing this collection of assets, which we are very excited to acquire and plan to strategically grow in the years ahead.”

CDI owns 29 casinos, HHR facilities and racing properties across 11 different states in the US.

Photo by Shutterstock.com
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Matthew Bain

Matthew Bain started as a Content Manager for PlayKentucky and other Catena Media sites in 2022. He covered the launch of Massachusetts sports betting and the Prop 26 vs. Prop 27 battle in California. Before that, he spent six years as a sports reporter and then deputy sports editor for the Des Moines Register, during which time he won nine statewide journalism awards, including the Genevieve Mauck Stoufer Outstanding Young Iowa Journalists Award. As deputy sports editor, Matthew oversaw the Register's recruiting coverage while also innovating the outlet's high school sports coverage. Matthew graduated from San Diego State and grew up in California, but he's somehow a Boston Celtics fan. Long story.

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