Churchill Downs Incorporated added a big piece to their empire after purchasing Bluff Media and all of their assets. Bluff is one of the biggest names in poker since they operate a number of different media entities including BLUFF Magazine, BluffMagazine.com, Bluff.com, BluffPoker.com and ThePokerDB. The latter is quite significant because ThePokerDB contains a huge database of poker player tournament results and rankings.

Churchill Downs explained their main reason for purchasing the poker company by saying that Bluff Media will be extremely valuable "in the event there is a liberalization of state or federal laws with respect to Internet poker in the United States."

It appears as if this liberalization is drawing closer and closer since the US Department of Justice removed online poker from the federal Wire Act, which previously made the game illegal across intrastate lines. In theory, this makes online poker legal in the United States, but the government has yet to pass any legislation on the matter yet. However, this isn't to say that lawmakers aren't working hard to get something done on this front.

Going back to Churchill Downs Inc., the company's name is usually synonymous with horse racing, but their business has been expanding to the online sector lately. They now take horse racing bets online and have stated their full intentions to start an online poker operation in the future.

Some of Churchill Downs current assets include the Churchill Downs Racetrack, a Greenville, Mississippi casino, a casino and racetrack in New Orleans, and a racetrack and poker room in Miami Gardens, Florida. Assuming the United States does move forward with online poker legislation as expected, Churchill Downs Inc. will most likely have an internet poker room to add to their business enterprise.