HISA Tells Churchill To Pay Up, Threatens To Pull Simulcast Signals Mar. 26

[Wandering Eyes]

In the ongoing battle between HISA and Churchill Downs Inc., HISA fired the latest shot Tuesday, ordering Churchill to pay it $5,024,848.56, plus interest in the amount of $250,631.77. In documents released Tuesday by HISA, the authority charged that if CDI does not comply with the order it will no longer be able to simulcast races from any of its tracks to out-of-state locations starting Mar. 27.

The legislation that created HISA allows it to revoke a tracks simulcasting privileges if HISA believes a track is in violation of its rules.

The first track to be affected would be the Churchill-owned Turfway Park, which is currently racing, but closes Mar. 28. But the most severe impact of HISA's decision could be felt Kentucky Derby Day. If Churchill is not allowed to simulcast the sport's most important race and the entire Derby Day card, the results would be devastating. A total of $234.4 million was bet on the GI Kentucky Derby last year and $349 million was bet on the entire card, with much of that money wagered outside the state of Kentucky through ADW outlets and off-track betting locations. Shutting down out-of-state betting would also no doubt alienate horseplayers and Derby lovers across the country.

The ruling was issued by a three-member panel of board members of HISA. The ruling can be appealed by Churchill Downs Inc. to the full HISA board. At deadline for this story the TDN had not received a response to an email sent to CDI requesting comment.

The issue first arose on Feb. 18, when HISA summoned Churchill Downs Racetrack and its corporate parent, CDI, to a hearing before a panel of HISA board members in an attempt to secure payment of 2025 assessment fees that CDI has allegedly failed to submit on behalf of the four racetracks, Turfway, Ellis Park, Presque Isle Downs and Churchill itself, that the company owns in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Going so far as to accuse CDI of “freeloading,” HISA alleged that it had not received “one cent” of the money it was due in easements fees for 2025.

According to HISA, Churchill Downs Inc. was the only racetrack company or racetrack covered by HISA that paid the authority nothing in 2025.

The dispute between CDI and HISA has been complicated by the fact that HISA changed the methodology for how it assesses how much it is owed by a track. CDI is seeking to pay lower fees based on methodologies that were not so cost prohibitive for the company and its tracks.

CDI has challenged these changes through what is a still unresolved lawsuit. Churchill has never claimed that it does not owe HISA money, but has said it is waiting on a court to decide on a lawsuit it filed against HISA before paying whatever it may owe after the court has ruled.

The HISA panel acknowledged CDI's position, and with the dispute still yet unresolved in the courts, that it is possible that Churchill will owe a lesser amount. HISA is currently seeking to collect $2.4 million based on what Churchill alone owes rather than the $6.3 million it could owe depending on what methods were used to assess the fees it would be required to pay.

“As for the balance, the Authority states that it plans to 'seek in a later action the remainder of the assessment fees owed for Churchill Downs Racetrack if the Authority prevails in CDI's pending lawsuit,'” the document reads. “According to the Authority, this “two-phase approach [is] meant to give CDI every benefit of the doubt.”

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