A March 16 board panel decision of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority requests Churchill Downs Inc. pay millions of dollars in unpaid assessment fees or face the prospect of losing race dates.
The HISA Board Panel determined that CDI owes unpaid 2025 assessment fees and interest for four Thoroughbred tracks it owns: Churchill Downs, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, and Presque Isle Downs.
CDI officials declined to comment March 17. While the Monday decision was issued by the HISA Board Panel, a federal court case involving CDI's position that it is being assessed fees by HISA that the company doesn't owe continues to play out. A March 19 court date is scheduled in Louisville, Ky.
In the Monday decision, the HISA Board Panel determined Churchill Downs racetrack owes $2,408,501 in unpaid 2025 HISA assessment fees, as well as $120,132 in interest. It requested owner CDI make payment within 10 days. The decision says if payment is not received by March 26, then for each day the payment is late, Churchill Downs will not be allowed to conduct races, to be applied on the next scheduled race days at the track.
The board panel reached the same determination for the unpaid 2025 HISA assessment fees for Turfway Park ($1,436,186 and $71,634 in interest), Ellis Park ($447,568 and $22,324 in interest), and Presque Isle Downs ($732,593 and $36,540 in interest). Like Churchill Downs, the payments for all three of these tracks are due March 26. If payment is not received, the tracks will not be allowed to conduct race days, applied to the next scheduled days at each track.
The amount the HISA Board Panel requests from Churchill Downs racetrack is a form of compromise. HISA believes it is owed $6,325,120 in 2025 assessment fees, but is requesting "a partial payment of the fees owed by CDI under the original methodology rule in an amount that reflects CDI's 'longstanding position that it owes only fees based purely on the number of racing starts at its racetracks.'"
HISA said the $2,408,501 being requested is the amount that would be owed under the "CDI formula." HISA said if it prevails in court, it will pursue the remainder of the $6,325,120.
While CDI declined to comment March 17, it released a statement Feb. 19 that said, in part, it believes HISA's purse-based methodology exceeds Congressional authority. The company has raised concerns about the regulator adjudicating its own fee disputes, and questions HISA's ability to suspend racing or simulcast wagering if assessments are not paid.
Of the four CDI tracks cited for nonpayment, racing is currently taking place at Turfway Park, which is scheduled to race March 26-28 to close out its current meeting. Churchill Downs is scheduled to begin its spring meeting April 25.
In background information provided in the board panel decision, it's noted that the methodology used to calculate assessments from January 2022 through 2025 was based on covered racing starts, weighted by the projected purse amounts of those starts. This year, the methodology has shifted to solely projected racing starts in each state, not weighted by purse amounts in those starts.
