Gambling operator Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has reopened its main ‘historical racing machine’ venue, while inking a deal to dramatically increase the number of machines across its retail network.

On Monday, CDI announced that its Derby City Gaming venue, which is located adjacent to the company’s flagship Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, would open its doors at 8pm that day. CDI thanked Kentucky’s governor for approving the reopening of the property, which shut down on March 15 to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said Derby City would employ the ‘CDI 360 Degree Approach to Safety,’ the company’s program of health and safety precautions to ensure the wellbeing of both customers and staff. These include unspecified capacity restrictions, customer temperature checks and regular sanitizing of gaming machines.

Historical racing machines (HRM) are effectively slot machines that rely on virtual simulations of previous races with all the identifying information stripped out. Since the venue’s 2018 launch, Derby City’s machines have become far more important to CDI’s ‘Churchill Downs’ segment than live racing.