Wind Creek Hospitality Buying Birmingham Racecourse and Casino in Alabama

Posted on: November 19, 2024, 10:09h. 

Last updated on: November 19, 2024, 02:22h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Wind Creek Hospitality has agreed with the owners of the Birmingham Racecourse and Casino in Alabama to acquire the gaming facility.

Live greyhound racing ceased at the Birmingham Racecourse in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though greyhound racing remains legal in Alabama, the Birmingham track was the last facility to offer live racing.

Wind Creek, a fully owned subsidiary of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, one of the fastest-growing federally recognized tribes in the United States, is purchasing the Birmingham Racecourse and Casino from the McGregor family, who has controlled the track and gaming venue since Milton McGregor bought it out of bankruptcy in 1992.

Since the pandemic, the racecourse has focused on its gaming operations, which include simulcast parimutuel wagering on horses and greyhounds and historical horse racing (HHR) machines. The Birmingham Racecourse Casino features about 300 slot-like gaming terminals.

We are excited to bring the Birmingham Racecourse into the Wind Creek family,” said Jay Dorris, president and CEO of Wind Creek Hospitality. “The McGregor family built and has operated the Birmingham Racecourse and Casino for decades. Over those years, it became clear to us that we share many of the same goals — providing great entertainment, attracting tourism, and creating economic growth in Alabama.”

The Birmingham Racecourse and Casino sale to Wind Creek is expected to close in early 2025. No sale price was disclosed.

One of the most charitable tribes in the nation, the Poarch Indians already support numerous organizations in the Birmingham region such as the Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Promise, the latter being a college scholarship initiative. 

Wind Creek Birmingham? 

Wind Creek Hospitality owns and operates three Class I and II tribal casinos in Alabama featuring bingo-based electronic gaming machines. The company runs Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Montgomery, and Wind Creek Wetumpka.

Because the Poarch Indians don’t have historical ties to the Birmingham area, and therefore won’t apply to have the racecourse property deemed as sovereign land, Wind Creek will continue to run the casino as a parimutuel wagering facility. With horse and greyhound racing continuing to be dying sports across the country, Wind Creek’s interest in Birmingham is presumably because of the casino’s HHR games, which are slot-like terminals that determine bet outcomes based on previously run horse races.

Wind Creek remains bullish on the US gaming industry. Along with ongoing investments at Wind Creek Bethlehem, its full-scale, Las Vegas-like casino in Pennsylvania, the tribal company will soon open Wind Creek Chicago Southland in Illinois.

Located in the Chicago suburbs, the Southland casino has a 70K-square-foot casino with 1,400 slot machines, 56 table games, a poker room, and a sportsbook. The resort has 252 hotel rooms, a 75K-square-foot entertainment venue, 12K-square feet of event space, and several restaurants and bars.

Victoryland Focus 

HHR gaming became the name of the game at controversial casinos in Alabama after the state’s Supreme Court ruled in September 2022 that “gray market” electronic bingo machines at venues in Macon and Lowndes counties constituted illegal gambling despite voters approving them through local referendums. The ruling forced Victoryland, White Hall Entertainment, and Southern Star Entertainment to cease operating electronic bingo machines.

Victoryland remains owned by the McGregor family. Because the casino facility in Shorter possesses a parimutuel license, the gaming venue is allowed to incorporate HHR devices, and therefore, remains open, unlike the two other entertainment centers.

Lewis Benefield, the president of the Birmingham Racecourse Casino and Victoryland, said Alabama’s restrictive and opaque gaming laws led to the McGregors divesting one of its two major holdings.

The people of Birmingham desire the same types of entertainment offered at other facilities in and around Alabama. Unfortunately, differing state laws and enforcement actions regarding gaming have limited our ability to compete effectively,” Benefield said. 

“The McGregor family will now focus their efforts on Victoryland and advocate for unified gaming legislation in Alabama which would capture much-needed revenue for the people of Alabama,” Benefield concluded.