$2.75 billion purchase includes rights to build historical racing machine entertainment venues in state

NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) – Churchill Downs Inc., the company behind the infamous Kentucky Derby horse race, has formally completed its acquisition of Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent County and six Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums in Virginia, including ones in New Kent and Hampton.

The company announced it had completed its $2.75 billion purchase “of substantially all of the assets” of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC, which includes all of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment’s assets and operations in Virginia, New York and Sioux City, Iowa.

It also comes after Churchill Downs has received customary licensing approvals from the Virginia Racing Commission, the New York State Gaming Commission and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

Churchill Downs chief executive officer Bill Carstanjen said in a statement that formalizing the acquisition “marks a significant moment in the evolution of Churchill Downs Incorporated,” adding that the transaction “meaningfully expands our geographic footprint to Iowa, New York and Virginia, introducing a very unique set of assets and attractive organic growth opportunities to our company.”

Besides acquiring Colonial Downs Racetrack and the Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums – the other locations in Virginia include Collinsville, Dumfries, Richmond and Vinton – it includes about 2,700 historical racing machines. Those machines allow people to bet on replays of horse races.

It also consists of:

  • Del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo, New York, a 96,000 sq. ft. casino with about 1,700 slot machines, 80 table games, a 205-room hotel, nine restaurants/bar areas, 758 covered parking spaces, a 6,000 sq. ft. sportsbook area, a 2,400-seat entertainment venue and a 7,200 sq. ft. outdoor event venue.
  • Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, Iowa, a 45,000 sq. ft. casino with 639 slot machines, 20 table games, a 54-room hotel, 1,511 parking spaces, two live entertainment venues, a 100-piece music memorabilia collection, and a Hard Rock-branded sportsbook.

By acquiring Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, it also includes other development rights for Churchill Downs, including:

  • The opportunity, under Virginia law, to develop up to five additional historical racing machine (HRM) entertainment venues in Virginia with collectively up to approximately 2,300 additional HRMs.
  • The rights to build a new HRM entertainment venue with up to 1,800 HRMs in Dumfries, in northern Virginia, with the initial phase expected to open in 2023.
  • The rights to develop a new HRM entertainment venue with up to 150 HRMs in Emporia. The Emporia project, located along I-95 near the North Carolina border, is expected to open in 2023.
  • The rights to Peninsula Pacific Entertainment’s ongoing effort, in partnership with Urban One, to develop ONE Casino + Resort, a $565 million destination casino in Richmond.