United Totalizator was founded in the 1950s by Lloyd and Jane Shelhamer. The Shelhamers owned Beaumont Race Track in
Belgrade, Montana. They could not find a totalizator company willing to service such a small facility, so they purchased obsolete wagering equipment to operate in-house, and soon branched out to service other racetracks in the region. In 1986, United Tote bought
Sunland Park Racetrack in New Mexico for $3.5 million. By this time, United Tote had a 10 percent market share in North America, with contracts to service 85 tracks and
jai alai frontons, making it the third largest tote company after
AmTote and
Autotote. It continued to operate out of the Shelhamers' ranch house in
Shepherd, Montana. United Tote would own 20 percent of the venture and would be responsible for managing the tracks. In 1989, United Tote purchased its larger competitor, Autotote Systems, from
Thomas H. Lee for $85 million. Before the two companies' operations could be integrated, the merger was challenged by
federal antitrust regulators. A 1991 court ruling forced the company to split back up, and the original United Tote business was divested to the Shelhamer family. The company sold its stake in United Track Racing to Wembley plc in 1992. In 1994, the Shelhamer family sold United Tote to
Video Lottery Technologies, Inc., a Montana-based maker of
lottery equipment, for $20 million in cash plus $10 million in
promissory notes and an
earnout agreement worth up to $10 million. Video Lottery Technologies, later named Powerhouse Technologies, was acquired in 1999 by
Anchor Gaming, which was then purchased in 2001 by
International Game Technology (IGT). United Tote became part of IGT's newly formed lottery division. IGT sold United Tote in 2003 for $12.3 million. In 2006,
Youbet.com purchased United Tote for $31.9 million plus $14.7 million in assumed debt. United Tote became part of Churchill Downs, Inc. in 2010, when that company acquired Youbet.com. In 2024, Churchill Downs sold a 49 percent stake in the company to the
New York Racing Association. The two organizations said they would develop a system under United Tote to expedite the addition of horse racing to
sports betting platforms. ==References==