Facility Notes

Churchill Downs Inc.’s (CDI) Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans yesterday received initial approval to build a temporary slot-machine facility. Final approval for the structure must come from the New Orleans City Council. CDI Exec VP Steve Sexton said that “that could happen in early May” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 3/14).

MINNY-CARS? ESPN’s Angelique Chengelis reported a group led by Minneapolis-based International Motorsports Entertainment & Development Corp. CEO Jim Farnum are considering building a $200M racetrack in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Farnum has “not had any discussions with NASCAR, although he said they have some inkling of who they should first contact” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 3/13).

REVENUE INCREASE: In Milwaukee, Don Walker reports the Wisconsin State Department of Revenue “sent nearly $2.7[M] in stadium sales tax revenue to the Miller Park stadium district in February, one of the largest payouts” since the 0.1% sales tax to finance Miller Park in the five-county region was first collected in 1996. But board members “appear leery of the state’s methods of collecting” the tax. From ’97-’02, average annual sales tax growth was 7.9%. Since ’03, when revenue officials “installed new computer software to run the program,” the average annual sales tax growth declined to 0.2% (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/14).

CREDIT DUE: Comcast-Spectacor’s Flyers, 76ers and AHL Phantoms have been testing a new credit card called Gratis, which “takes aim at two of the biggest issues affecting the credit-card industry: security and the fees that merchants pay for card-acceptance and processing.” Gratis has financial backing from AOL co-Founder Steve Case’s investment firm Revolution LLC. Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis is Chair of Revolution LLC (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/14).