Churchill Downs, Showboat Hotel Online Gambling Lawsuit Moved to NJ Court

As if things couldn’t get any worse in the Garden State for its new online gambling industry, Churchill Downs and Atlantic City’s famed Showboat Hotel and Casino are embroiled in a lawsuit over a vendor agreement.

Churchill Downs had entered into a deal to purchase the Showboat Hotel. 

NLR Entertainment owner Nicholas Ribis was paid $2.5 million as “earnest money" by Churchill Downs to be the exclusive vendor of NLR for the period 2014 until 2021.

John Brennan of the Bergen Record reports that Churchill Downs hired 30 employees and spent $10 million on equipment last fall under the assumption things were going well “based upon Ribis’s continued assurances.”

Churchill Downs is suing over not getting its $2.5M back.

A handful of online gambling operators in New Jersey have gone public to express their disappointment with everything from the inability to process payouts to the stringent requirements and scare tactics leveled by the state Attorney General against the leading Internet gambling affiliates.

Brian Mattingley, chief executive officer of London- based 888, said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg News this weekend, “We are absolutely shocked by the slowness of the (New Jersey online gambling) market.”

Revenue is coming in at a fraction of what was predicted, according to publicly released data.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com