The record revenue tally reflects the October acquisition of the Riverwalk Casino and Hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which helped push gaming revenue up 21% to $62.9m. Online betting revenue at TwinSpires.com and lucky-numbers gaming site Luckity.com rose 2% to $40.9m, boosted by a 4.3% increase in pari-mutuel handle, bucking the overall industry trend which saw handle decrease 3.6% in Q4. (It helps when you don’t bother with pesky things like obeying the law in Illinois.) Traditional racing operations revenue was the downer of the bunch, slipping 7% to $48.5m, which the company blames on Churchill Downs Racetrack not hosting the Breeders Cup World Championship in 2012.
For the year as a whole, CDI’s net revenue hit an all-time high of $732.4m (+5%), while earnings fell 9% to $58.2m. Credit for the revenue spike goes (again) to the online business and Riverwalk plus record weeks for Kentucky Oaks and the Derby. Riverwalk contributed all but $300k of the $10.5m in extra gaming revenue CDI enjoyed in 2012. Full-year revenue at Harlow’s in Mississippi rose $3.5m, although these results were skewed because of a 25-day shutdown in 2011 due to flooding. Revenue at the Calder casino in Florida took a $5m tumble due to “increased regional competitive pressure” in Miami and a generally sucky economy in the Sunshine State. Overall gaming earnings rose 19% to $67.8m in 2012.
Racing operations revenue rose $3.2m (+1%) in 2012 thanks to 4% more race days than the previous year, but earnings fell 21% to $50.8m. CDI’s online operations revenue rose 11% in 2012 to $183.3m thanks to a similar sized boost (10.9%) in online handle, again outpacing the national industry average. Earnings rose a more modest 7% to $40.2m due in part to costs associated with the launch of Luckity.com. With its online operations ever more important to its bottom line, CDI likely can’t wait to get a date with the Nevada Gaming Control Board to consider its application for an online poker license.