Kentucky's racing commission approves new Ellis Park operator
As expected, the Kentucky Racing Commission on Tuesday officially approved Saratoga Casino Holdings as the new owner and operator of Ellis Park at a special-called meeting in Lexington, Ky.
Last week, “The Pressbox (thepressboxlts.com) first reported that a sale was imminent for Ellis Park, located in Henderson, Ky.
On Monday, that news came a step closer to reality when the racing commission announced a meeting to discuss, in part, transfer of the license from the current owner, Ron Geary, to a new ownership team.
Currently, Saratoga Casino Holdings is the parent company of Saratoga Casino Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Saratoga Casino Black Hawk in Black Hawk, Colo. SCH owns and operates the Saratoga Harness Racing, Inc. as well.
Saratoga Casino Holdings will take over Ellis Park's day-to-day activities and decision-making authority immediately.
“Everything went very well,” said Marc A. Guilfoil, the Executive Director for the Kentucky Racing Commission. “Seamless.”
Just a couple of years ago, Saratoga Casino Holdings purchased a minority position in Ellis Park. According to our sources, the partnership was still led and operational control was still held by Geary and his management team.
Tuesday, Saratoga Casino Holdings announced that it had purchased the remainder of Ellis Park from Geary, and that full ownership and operations would be transferred, if approved by the Kentucky Racing Commission. That approval took just a few minutes, and was absent of any drama.
The Commission voted to approve the request of Churchill Downs to own, operate and make public Instant Racing Machines at its new venue, Derby City Gaming, located a few miles from the racetrack.
That location is scheduled to open in advance of the Breeders’ Cup, which will be hosted by Churchill Downs this November.
In addition, the Commission approved Churchill Downs’ request to utilize the Ainsworth Game Technology Historical Horse Racing System and Entertaining Game Theme.