It’s hardly business-as-usual for a tech company to leave Silicon Valley for Kentucky. But Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has relocated the headquarters of its TwinSpires division from Mountain View, California, to Louisville.
The move’s completion was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the end of May, and the transition has already resulted in the creation of about 70 new high-tech jobs, as well as a planned $2.2 million, 15,000-square-foot expansion of CDI’s corporate headquarters on Hurstbourne Parkway in Louisville.
“Technology, specifically mobile, is the equine industry’s fastest-growing sector, and Churchill Downs is proud to pioneer the innovation and growth that’s taking place,” CDI Chief Executive Officer Bill Carstanjen said in announcing the move.
TwinSpires, a wholly owned division of CDI, is a leading online platform for betting on horse racing worldwide. In 2016, $1.1 billion was bet through its site, a figure the company says represents 10 percent of all horse racing wagers in the United States. The company employs more than 200 people in Kentucky, with about 140 of them based in Lexington. The Lexington jobs and office, on Corporate Drive, will not be affected by the move. TwinSpires plans to add 25 more jobs in Louisville this year, with salaries ranging between $75,000 and $110,000.
Launched in Louisville with five employees in 2007, TwinSpires soon moved to Silicon Valley to take advantage of the tech-savvy workforce and opportunities there, Carstanjen said. “Ten years ago, it was really a challenge for us to imagine building this business in Kentucky, when it seemed that so many of the resources and types of skills we needed were found more easily in California. Frankly, we didn’t think we could do it here.”
What a difference a decade makes. Carstanjen cited advances in high-tech skills in the Louisville Metro area, as well as a welcoming attitude from legislators, in deciding to make the move back to Kentucky.
“Relocating TwinSpires to Louisville would not be possible without the leadership of Gov. Bevin and the work he has done to make Kentucky more business-friendly,” he said. (He noted that state incentives were not used to attract TwinSpires to the state.) And he credited Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s efforts to make his city a technology and innovation hub and to attract new businesses, jobs and talent as “critical factors when weighing the decision to relocate the TwinSpires headquarters.”
At the TwinSpires grand opening, Gov. Bevin said: “Churchill Downs’ decision to bring a technology-focused headquarters to our state sends a strong signal to other businesses about the quality of our workforce and their potential for growth and success in Kentucky.”
Said Fischer: “The relocation of TwinSpires is confirmation that Louisville’s forward-thinking
economy is driven by a skilled workforce that can support innovative global companies.”
The TwinSpires move also allows CDI, one of the nation’s leading racing, gaming and online entertainment companies, to consolidate more of its business in Kentucky. In addition to TwinSpires, CDI owns its signature property, Churchill Downs, as well as three other racetracks; six casinos; off-track betting facilities; a video-poker business; tote, data and telecommunications companies; and Big Fish Games, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of casual online and mobile games, which CDI acquired in 2014. CDI has about 4,000 full- and part-time employees and maintains operations in 11 states.