Courier Journal – Churchill Downs Inc. is considering adding 50 new positions paying an average of about $100,000 in Louisville as part of its effort to offer online gambling games like poker.
The Louisville-based casino and racetrack company received Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approval Thursday for $1 million in tax incentives to add employees at its headquarters on North Hurstbourne Parkway as part of a $4 million expansion.
A statement issued by company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Evans said the additional Louisville jobs would be tied to Churchill’s hopes to offer Internet gambling as its legality is clarified by the federal government or individual states.
The new employees would be “simply part of that effort and expands the technology team we already have based in Lexington, Ky., and Mountain View, Calif.,” he said.
Churchill also is considering locating the technology jobs in Mountain View, where its TwinSpires.com online horse betting business is based, or Atlanta, where Churchill’s Bluff Media division is based, said officials with Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.
Beyond saying that the jobs would be technology-based and tied to the online gambling efforts, the company did not elaborate on what the 50 new employees would do.
“You’re going to see a lot of mainframe, technology and software,” said Daryl Snyder, a GLI vice president.
Mayor Greg Fischer said he believes the city has a good chance to win among the three locations.
“They were just hoping to get these incentives that were just approved. So I would expect a favorable outcome,” he said.
The application says the average hourly wage including benefits would be $81 an hour. Assuming a 40-hour work week over 52 weeks, the jobs would average $168,480 a year.
Craig Richard, GLI president and CEO, said it’s “a feather in Louisville’s cap” to compete with well-known technology centers for the jobs, a position he said piggybacks on a strategy to help existing Louisville companies.
