The biggest horse race of the year may provide the best opportunity in some time to see just how well online sportsbook operators are faring with the sport of kings.
Those operators have been busy trying to build up their presence in horse racing, investing plenty of time and money to that end, and the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby this weekend could be a good indicator of their success thus far.
“When it comes to horse racing, it's all about the Derby,” Churchill Downs Inc. chief executive Bill Carstanjen said last month during a call for analysts and investors. “That's the opportunity to really reach deep into a broader customer base to recruit customers and interest them in horse racing.”
Morning-line Kentucky Derby favorite FIERCENESS. 🌹 #KYDerby2024 pic.twitter.com/KJK9Zh01nR
— FanDuel Racing (Formerly TVG) (@FanDuel_Racing) May 1, 2024
This year’s "Run for the Roses" will also be the first since Kentucky sports betting was legalized in 2023. Retail and online wagering went live in the Bluegrass State in September of last year, and all of the usual suspects involved in mobile sports wagering in the U.S. are present.
“B2B deals with FanDuel and DraftKings have gone well so far and the Derby provides an opportunity to recruit customers and check in on progress,” Jefferies analyst David Katz wrote recently.
Katz was reporting back to clients on the latest comments from Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, which is providing technology that helps those two operators take action on horse racing.
Always something on
Churchill Downs the racetrack has indeed been a proving ground for horses and horsepeople for more than a century. This year it could be the same for the online gambling operators trying to build up their horse-racing businesses, as there may be no bigger moment for the sport for some time than the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
But while Derby Day is this weekend, there is seemingly always a horse race being run somewhere, which means there is probably someone always wagering somewhere as well. That is the allure of online horse racing for sportsbook operators, an “always on” product on which customers can gamble at any time of the day.
This has helped prompt most of the major online sportsbook operators in the U.S. to try to figure out ways to incorporate horse racing into their product portfolios. BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel all have racing apps, and bet365 recently announced a partnership with the Stronach Group’s 1/ST Technology for horse racing in the U.S.
Bragging rights
FanDuel can currently boast it is "the only sportsbook app where fans can place a bet on the Kentucky Derby" in the U.S., as it has a single account and wallet for sports betting and racing customers.
“Racing fans can find betting markets for the Kentucky Derby in just a few taps when they open the FanDuel Sportsbook app and then click the horse racing icon,” the company noted in a recent press release.
The operator's parent company, Dublin-based Flutter Entertainment PLC, is well-versed in horse racing given its popularity overseas, and U.S.-based FanDuel is deploying substantial resources for this year's Derby.
Among other things, FanDuel is promising “special offers” for the race, while FanDuel TV is broadcasting live from Churchill Downs and the bookmaker has a party planned for Friday featuring country music star Luke Bryan and R&B singer Ne-Yo.
"FanDuel continues to lead the industry as the only online sportsbook to offer a single account and wallet for sports and horse racing wagering,” said Andrew Moore, general manager of racing at FanDuel, in a press release. “Coupling this exceptional race and our leading technology is a unique opportunity to introduce new fans to the sport of horse racing.”
The #syndicate is off and running! #dkpartner pic.twitter.com/CtX8BZ0IzI
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 3, 2024
DraftKings, meanwhile, is leaning on one of its newer collaborators to tout its horse-racing product. The Boston-based bookmaker and Barstool Sports revealed another sports betting partnership earlier this year, and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy has used his considerable presence on X, the former Twitter, to promote DK Horse during Derby Week.
The success of the sportsbook operators could come into focus more clearly post-Derby, when all the numbers are tallied up.
Churchill Downs reported that wagering on the 149th edition of the race set a new record of $188.7 million, and this year CDI is eyeing even greater success. Whether that spills over into the operations of the company's horse-racing partners, as well as other horse-racing-inclined sportsbooks, remains to be seen.
CDI's Carstanjen said last month that the company's business-to-business relationships with DraftKings and FanDuel have "gone very well" thus far.
“We've already seen some of the activities of not just DraftKings and FanDuel but others around horse racing and around the Derby and we encourage that,” Carstanjen added. “And I think a real check-in point on the progress really will come after we get a chance to reflect on the results we see for this year's Derby.”
