U.S. bookmaker Churchill Downs has announced it will exit the online casino and sports betting business.

Chief Executive Officer William Carstanjen said, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting in May of 2018, we had high hopes for the potential to build a profitable business in this space. Our initial strategy was to leverage a variable cost technology model and be disciplined in our marketing spend with a focus on bottom line profitability as states legalized online sports wagering and iGaming.

We have profitable retail sports books in 4 of our casinos. However, the online sports betting and online casino space is highly competitive with an ever-increasing number of participants that the states have licensed.

Many are pursuing maximum market share in every state with limited regard for short-term or potentially even long-term profitability. Because we do not see for us a path in which this business model delivers predictable and acceptable margins for at least several years, if ever, we have decided to exit the B2C online sports betting and iGaming space over the next 6 months.

TwinSpires had established market access in eight states. Those states will no longer have access to the online TwinSpires sportsbook in the next six months.