Turfway Park Racing & Gaming Celebrates Grand Opening with $50,000 Donation to Local Charities

FLORENCE, KY. (September 1, 2022) Turfway Park Racing & Gaming (“Turfway Park”) opened its doors to the public for the first time at 9 a.m. with a special ribbon cutting ceremony that included Mayor Diane Whalen, Northern Kentucky Chamber President Brent Cooper and Judge Executive Gary Moore. Senior leaders from Churchill Downs Incorporated (“CDI”) and Turfway Park commemorated the special occasion with a $50,000 charitable donation to be split between two local charities: Easterseals Redwood and I Have Wings Breast Cancer Foundation.

The state-of-the-art facility opened its gaming floor featuring 850 historical racing machines after hosting a VIP reception earlier in the week which featured remarks from Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear. Of the first class facility, the Governor remarked, “While announcements are great, groundbreakings are fun and topping off ceremonies are important, grand openings mean it’s real. It means the jobs are real.” Indeed the $240 million Turfway Park investment has resulted in 800 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs.

Florence Mayor Diane Whalen was one of the six distinguished guests who made the ceremonial first bet on the machines remarking, “It’s like Dorothy walking over the hill to the Land of Oz – all the bright lights, the newness of the place, the excitement we know it’ll bring to the city.”

In addition to the games like Wheel of Fortune, Buffalo Gold and Ultimate Fire Link, that excitement includes live music entertainment that will perform on the Bourbon and Brew Restaurant stage along with food options from Serena’s Market, named after Serena’s Song, a filly with a historic number of wins at Turfway Park including the 1995 Spiral Stakes. The grand opening also debuted a new event space ideal for banquets, parties and weddings, fulfilling a long-requested need of the local community.

About Churchill Downs Incorporated

Churchill Downs Incorporated is an industry-leading racing, online wagering and gaming entertainment company anchored by our iconic flagship event, the Kentucky Derby. We own and operate four gaming entertainment venues with approximately 3,900 historical racing machines in Kentucky. We also own and operate TwinSpires, one of the largest and most profitable online wagering platforms for horse racing in the U.S. and we have eight retail sportsbooks. We are also a leader in brick-and-mortar casino gaming in eight states with approximately 11,800 slot machines and video lottery terminals and 250 table games. www.churchilldownsincorporated.com

This news release contains various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” and similar words or similar expressions (or negative versions of such words or expressions).

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors, among others, that may materially affect actual results or outcomes include the following: the receipt of regulatory approvals on terms desired or anticipated, unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to the proposed transaction, including, without limitation, difficulties that result in the failure to realize expected synergies, efficiencies and cost savings from the proposed transaction within the expected time period (if at all), our ability to obtain financing on the anticipated terms and schedule, disruptions of our or P2E’s current plans, operations and relationships with customers and suppliers caused by the announcement and pendency of the proposed transaction, our and P2E’s ability to consummate a sale-leaseback transaction with respect to the Hard Rock Sioux City on terms desired or anticipated; the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including the emergence of variant strains, and related economic matters on our results of operations, financial conditions and prospects; the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, public health threats, civil unrest, and inclement weather; the effect of economic conditions on our consumers' confidence and discretionary spending or our access to credit; additional or increased taxes and fees; the impact of significant competition, and the expectation the competition levels will increase; changes in consumer preferences, attendance, wagering, and sponsorships; loss of key or highly skilled personnel; lack of confidence in the integrity of our core businesses or any deterioration in our reputation; risks associated with equity investments, strategic alliances and other third-party agreements; inability to respond to rapid technological changes in a timely manner; concentration and evolution of slot machine and HRM manufacturing and other technology conditions that could impose additional costs; inability to negotiate agreements with industry constituents, including horsemen and other racetracks; inability to successfully expand our TwinSpires Sports and Casino business and effectively compete; difficulty in integrating recent or future acquisitions into our operations; inability to identify and / or complete acquisitions, divestitures, development of new venues or the expansion of existing facilities on time, on budget, or as planned; general risks related to real estate ownership and significant expenditures, including fluctuations in market values and environmental regulations; reliance on our technology services and catastrophic events and system failures disrupting our operations; online security risk, including cyber-security breaches, or loss or misuse of our stored information as a result of a breach, including customers’ personal information, could lead to government enforcement actions or other litigation; personal injury litigation related to injuries occurring at our racetracks; compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or applicable money-laundering regulations; payment-related risks, such as risk associated with fraudulent credit card and debit card use; work stoppages and labor issues; risks related to pending or future legal proceedings and other actions; highly regulated operations and changes in the regulatory environment could adversely affect our business; restrictions in our debt facilities limiting our flexibility to operate our business; failure to comply with the financial ratios and other covenants in our debt facilities and other indebtedness; and increase in our insurance costs, or obtain similar insurance coverage in the future, and inability to recover under our insurance policies for damages sustained at our properties in the event of inclement weather and casualty events.

We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Press Contacts

Tonya Abeln
Vice President, Corporate Communications

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