Horse racing commission approves Cherokee investment
Nov. 2—The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved a move Monday to allow the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Keeneland take a minority stake into the quarter horse race track slated for Cannonsburg by 2024.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, through their private investment company EBCI Holdings, will be taking a 48% stake in the venture, according to a spokesman for the project. Keeneland, an institution in Kentucky horseracing, will be taking a 1% stake in the venture.
ELS Gaming, the outfit that owns Revolutionary Racing Kentucky, will retain 51% of ownership.
As a part of the condition of the investment, Revolutionary Racing will have to submit a monthly report on to the commission about progress on the track.
The commission also set race dates for quarter horses for April 1-6, 2023, to be held at Red Mile.
The Cherokee have been in tribal gaming since the 1990s, operating two casino on reservation property. In 2020, the tribe formed an investment company to buy out the Caesar's in Southern Indiana across from Louisville for a sum of $280 million.
According to a report in Cherokee One Feather, a tribal newspaper, the company took over the casino in September 2021. Since assuming ownership — while retaining the Caesar's branding — the tribe took in $16 million in profit over the course of one year.
Of that money, $4 million was taken in directly by the tribe while $12 million was retained by EBCI Holding for reinvestment into other ventures.
In December 2021, EBCI Holdings announced it would start a "gaming technology incubator" which would mean $10-$12 million in investment for gambling startups.
August 2022 saw EBCI Holdings partner with Caesar's for the opening of $650 million casino in Danville, Virginia. The holding company is holding 49.5% stake in that venture, according to One Feather.
On Friday, Chief Richard Sneed said the tribe was expanding beyond North Carolina and investing in out-of-state gaming in order to strengthen the tribe's position prior to loosening of gambling regulations in the Tar Heel State and beyond.
The tribe is already facing competition within the state, with the Catawaba Tribe of South Carolina establishing a casino outside of Charlotte, thanks to a rider contained in a defense bill passed last year.
The Catawaba were forbidden from tribal land gambling by South Carolina after accepting a settlement with the state for millions of dollars in the 1990s. Over the objection of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Catawaba tried to apply for tribal land in North Carolina.
While blocked by the Department of the Interior as late as 2018 from being able to establish a casino, that changed in 2021 when the Bureau of Indian Affairs, North Carolina and the Catawaba entered into a compact for gaming.
The casino opened this year, but due to concerns regarding how much is going back to the South Carolina Tribe, news reports show it is under investigation by federal regulators.
(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com
