CHDN

Churchill Downs Incorporated

HARAM — SCREEN DOES NOT PASSstock

Is CHDN Halal?

Operator of pari-mutuel horse-race wagering, online sports betting, and casino gaming (host of the Kentucky Derby) — gambling is an explicit business-activity disqualifier.

What You Should Know

Churchill Downs operates live and historical horse-racing wagering, wagering services and casino gaming. Its March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q reports $7,485 million of assets, $4,928 million of interest-bearing debt, $200 million of cash, $99 million of receivables and $663 million of first-quarter revenue. Debt/assets is 65.84%, while liquidity/assets is 2.67% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 3.99%. The filing identifies $297 million of racing revenue, $109 million of wagering-services revenue and $257 million of gaming revenue; gambling is the core business-activity disqualifier, independent of the financial ratios.

⚠️ Concerns

  • Churchill Downs's core business is gambling (maisir) — racing and wagering, online betting and casino gaming — and cannot be cured by financial ratios or purification
  • The filing reports $663 million of total first-quarter revenue across racing, wagering services and gaming; the full amount is used as a conservative prohibited-activity proxy
  • Debt/assets is 65.84%, above the examined asset-based limits
  • Casinos and racetracks also generate alcohol and other ancillary hospitality revenue

Current quantitative Sharia screen

Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-15.

USD · millions
Interest-bearing debt / assets
65.84%Above limit
Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

4,928 / 7,485

Cash + interest-bearing securities / assets
2.67%Within limit
Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

200 / 7,485

Receivables + cash / assets
3.99%Within limit
Below 50% under FTSE Yasaar

299 / 7,485

FTSE Yasaar
v4.6, February 2026
Financial
Fails
Overall
Fails

Debt/assets is 65.84%, above the 33.33% limit; liquidity/assets is 2.67% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 3.99%. The business-activity screen independently fails on gambling.

MSCI Islamic (total-assets series)
October 2024 methodology
Financial
Fails
Overall
Fails

Debt/assets is 65.84%, above the examined MSCI total-assets limit; the core gambling activity also fails. This is not an index-membership claim.

Malaysia SAC financial ratios
single 5% activity benchmark adopted November 2025
Financial
Fails
Overall
Fails

Debt/assets is 65.84%, above the examined Malaysia limit, and the core gambling activity fails; this is not an official classification.

Market-cap denominator methods
MSCI M-Series, S&P and Dow Jones methods differ
Financial
Not calculated
Overall
Fails

A licensed historical market-cap series is not stored; the business-activity screen already fails.

Business-activity disclosure

Churchill Downs operates live and historical horse-racing wagering, wagering services and casino gaming. Pari-mutuel wagering, online betting and casino gaming are gambling (maisir), an explicit business-activity disqualifier; the core activity fails independently of financial ratios.

Limitation: Revenue categories include wagering, gaming and related hospitality services, but the filing does not isolate every ancillary alcohol or hospitality component; the full revenue proxy is conservative.

Purification

Purification is not a remedy for a core gambling business; gross interest income is also unavailable in the filing.

Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
  • Amounts are USD millions from Churchill Downs' March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q.
  • Interest-bearing debt is current debt of $63 million plus noncurrent debt of $4,865 million; operating lease liabilities are excluded.
  • Cash and cash equivalents are $200 million. Restricted cash of $91 million and equity-method investments are excluded from the interest-bearing-securities numerator.
  • Accounts receivable, net is $99 million and first-quarter revenue is $663 million.
  • The filing reports interest expense but does not separately disclose gross interest income, so the income numerator is unavailable.
  • The filing reports $297 million of live and historical racing revenue, $109 million of wagering-services revenue and $257 million of gaming revenue; the full $663 million is used as a conservative prohibited-activity proxy because the core model is gambling.

This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.

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