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Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, Inc. is putting the finishing touches on its $460 million gaming resort in Virginia’s Dumfries. In anticipation of its impending opening, Churchill Downs is aggressively marketing the casino to residents in affluent Northern Virginia.
The Rose Gaming Resort won’t offer traditional casino slot machines or live dealer table games. Instead, the gaming floor will house electronic gaming terminals that calculate winning spins based on previously run horse races.
Northern Virginia residents in Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, and Stafford counties have recently been inundated with television commercials advertising The Rose.
The Rose Gaming Resort defies expectations as Virginia’s newest premier gaming destination. With excitement around every corner and over 50,000 square feet of gaming space, there is more than one way to win at The Rose,” a narrator says during one 15-second spot.
During Churchill’s second-quarter earnings presentation, company officials said The Rose is on track to open next month. An exact September opening date hasn’t yet been confirmed.
Churchill hopes The Rose will poach some gaming dollars from Northern Virginia residents who are currently traveling across the Potomac River to MGM National Harbor in Maryland. The casino is considered MGM’s most profitable domestic gaming operation outside of Las Vegas.
Marketing Blitz
Last fall, Churchill Downs lost its bid to construct a commercial casino in Richmond. The local referendum vote wasn’t a total loss, however, as the state’s decision to allow Petersburg to mull the commercial gaming opportunity moves the possible casino development another 25 miles south of Dumfries where The Rose will operate.
Churchill acquired The Rose development through its $2.5 billion acquisition of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and Colonial Downs Group.
The Virginia General Assembly legalized historical horse racing (HHR) machines in 2018 after a Chicago-based group of investors agreed to purchase the shuttered Colonial Downs Racetrack and return live racing to the storied New Kent County facility. The sale was conditioned on the track being afforded HHR machines. The deal included off-track betting parlors that could also house HHR games, with a cap of 5K HHR machines across the venues.
Revolutionary Racing, the Chicago entity that bought Colonial Downs, later sold its Virginia business to P2E. Churchill’s takeover of Peninsula Pacific, along with The Rose, delivered the HHR off-track gaming venues that operate under the Rosie’s Gaming Emporium Brand. The HHR venues are located in Collinsville, Dumfries, Emporia, Hampton, Richmond, and Vinton.
The Rose is by far the largest HHR location in the Churchill stable. Along with 1,650 HHR gaming positions, the resort will open with a 102-room hotel, 2,540-space parking garage, eight bars and restaurants, and more than 80 acres of green space.
The Rose was built atop a former landfill just east of Interstate 95.
HHR Explained
HHR devices use the results of previously run horse races to approximate the gaming experience of a slot machine though the games are parimutuel in their functionality. The global gaming industry’s leading manufacturers, including Aristocrat, Light & Wonder, International Game Technology, AGS, Ainsworth, and Everi, produce and distribute HHR cabinets.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen says the company’s willingness to invest more in The Rose than P2E shows its optimism about Northern Virginia. The Rose budget has ballooned from $389 million in 2022 to $460 million, an 18% increase.
“We are on time and on budget to what we told you on the last earnings call as we increase the size of the facility to 1,650 HHR machines. It’s a massive site and it’s exciting to see the exterior and interior pieces come together as we approach completion,” Carstanjen said during the company’s earnings call on July 25.
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