Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ:CHDN) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

But you’ll see us do things on brick and mortar gaming, just like you’ll see us do things with HRM. And if you look at the trajectory of our Company, you can see we’re making a large investment, close to $300 million in Terra Haute. That’s a traditional Class III casino environment. And we’ve put a lot of time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears to winning the Richmond referendum because we believe that’s a huge market for brick and mortar gaming, traditional brick and mortar Class III gaming. So, I’d answer the question at that level. That’s the way to think about how we approach where to invest our capital and how we compare and contrast, whether it be traditional Class III gaming or HRM gaming or Twin Spires business or investment in Churchill Downs Racetrack.

Daniel Guglielmo: Thank you. Thank you. That was great. And then just quick, you mentioned some table game weakness at Rivers. It’s a trend I noticed in the first half for some peers that report drop and win on a quarterly basis. When you dig into that further, is there anything there of note, change in kind of play style, the games, segment of player that’s not showing up? Thank you.

Bill Carstanjen: No, I think I’ll reiterate what I said. And I think that’s the story there. The story for Rivers for us was really the drop in the hold rate for table games. And that happens sometimes quarter to quarter. And that was a big explanation for the story. Certainly, the fact that there’s competition in the market from the Waukegan asset and from now the downtown Chicago asset, that’s having less impact than we thought. And it’s really been on the slot side. But that is a fantastic property. One of our favorite investments of our experience together as a team has been the investment in Rivers. It’s a fantastic property. We believe in it strongly. And I see cause for real optimism when you look at how it’s performing compared to the assets that are now open in the market.

Sure, that’s new competition. So, it’s having some level of impact, but it’s not material level of impact. And if you look at our performance for the quarter, that’s a story about hold on table games more than decline in the base business level.

Daniel Guglielmo: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. I’ll now turn the call back over to CEO, Bill Carstanjen for any closing remarks.

Bill Carstanjen: Thank you, everybody. As always, thank you for your time today. Thank you for your interest and investment in our Company. We’ll do our very, very best to meet your expectations and to maximize your return. So, thank you again, and we’ll talk to you next time.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. This concludes today’s program and you may now disconnect.