By T. D. Thornton
Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has announced an assets swap that will give it full ownership of the Ocean Downs harness track and casino in Maryland in exchange for CDI's 25% equity interest in Saratoga Casino Holdings, LLC (SCH), which is the parent company of Saratoga Casino Hotel in New York and Saratoga Casino Black Hawk in Colorado.
In addition, according to a July 16 CDI press release, CDI has been granted “exclusive rights to operate internet real-money sports betting and real-money iGaming” on behalf of the Saratoga company's properties in New York and Colorado for a period of 15 years from the date of the agreement if sports betting is legalized in those states.
The release continued: “CDI has entered into a tax-efficient partial liquidation agreement…with Saratoga Harness Racing, Inc., to liquidate CDI's 25% equity stake in SCH in exchange for the remaining 50% interest in Ocean Downs held by SCH. CDI is, in effect, acquiring 37.5% of Ocean Downs because it has indirectly owned an additional 12.5% of Ocean Downs through its 25% ownership interest in SCH. Upon closing of this transaction, CDI will own 100% of Ocean Downs and will have no equity interest or management involvement in Saratoga New York or Saratoga Colorado.”
The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.
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