If you think about it, NASCAR and horse racing aren’t so different: four wheels, four legs, turn left, beat the others to the finish line.
Is it much of a stretch, then, to believe people would bet on NASCAR the same way they would horse racing, with the constantly changing odds of pari-mutuel pools rather than the fixed odds that stick-and-ball punters are accustomed to?
NASCAR thinks it makes sense, and it has enlisted a major player in Thoroughbred horse racing to help with an effort to make pari-mutuel wagering on stock car racing available via online sportsbooks.
“I looked at the format of horse racing, and I looked at the format of motorsports racing, and it's not that dissimilar,” said Joseph Solosky, managing director of sports betting for NASCAR, in an interview with Covers on Friday.
We're not so different, you and I
NASCAR wants horse racing and stock car racing to get similar in another way now as well, which is how people are wagering on the sports.
With that goal in mind, NASCAR and 1/ST TECHNOLOGY, a division of the Thoroughbred racetrack-owning Stronach Group, announced a “first-of-its-kind pari-mutuel betting partnership” on Thursday that will apply the pooled model of wagering to stock-car racing.
The alliance will “power the stateside launch of pari-mutuel NASCAR wagering, across web, mobile app, digital channels and retail or event locations in eligible U.S. jurisdictions,” a press release noted.
The hope is that applying the pari-mutuel model of betting to stock car racing will mean more wagering opportunities, more interest in races, and less risk for sportsbook operators that may be shying away from offering markets to bettors.
There could be other opportunities, too, such as a new stream of revenue for NASCAR and the potential to tap into markets that are currently untouched by state-regulated online sportsbooks. There is much to do before then, though.
“One of the things that we've seen in the fixed-odds space with the difficulty of expanding NASCAR betting is because, for a multitude of reasons, fixed-odds sportsbooks don't have the resources or the pricing confidence to create a diverse market list like you see in the NFL and MLB and NBA,” Solosky said. “So we feel that this pari-mutuel offering for our fans is going to offer a similar market that you'll see for when they bet on other sports.”
Pari-mutuel betting is how most gambling on horse racing (as well as greyhound racing and jai alai) in Canada and the United States is done, wherein wagers are pooled together and the odds change based on where the money is going. The “house” in pari-mutuel betting takes a percentage of that handle, creating a “risk-free environment” for racebook operators, Thursday's press release noted.
“Today, it is the primary form of wagering on thousands of global horse racing events, while also offered on sporting events, handling over $100 billion in wagers annually,” it added. “The pari-mutuel model enables data aggregation across operators and jurisdictions, ensuring the liquidity needed for jackpot bets.”
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— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2025
Solosky said that NASCAR has been seeing successes with fixed odds wagering on NASCAR via retail and online sportsbooks. Handle for last weekend’s Daytona 500 (“the Great American Race”) was up as much as 40% year-over-year for some operators.
But a typical NASCAR bettor may place a bet on a driver to win or finish in the top five or ten; perhaps they’ll even dabble on wagering one driver against another driver in a matchup. That’s what’s there for them.
Pari-mutuel wagering opens the door for outrights and matchups and a lot of what’s already doable, but also horse racing staples such as exactas, trifectas, and superfectas, as well as the parlay-like Daily Doubles, Pick 3s, Pick 4s, Pick 5s, Pick 6s, and Hi 5s that can have huge payouts for bettors.
You got a fast car ...
Solosky said the plan is to start slow, an uncharacteristic thing for a sport like NASCAR. But the plan is to present bettors with something that looks a lot like what’s currently available through their online sportsbooks, with 1/ST providing operators with the back-end technology for pari-mutuel wagering that can be presented alongside fixed-odds markets.
Bettors could see pari-mutuel options at their online sportsbook for outright winners and placings, but then eventually exactas (albeit named something that is more accessible for stick-and-ball bettors, such as “top two”) and other “exotics” could be added to the fray.
Then could come Pick 3s where bettors try to correctly predict the fastest cars in practice and qualifying and the first stage of a NASCAR race, or a Pick 6 that involves practice, qualifying, and all three stages of a race. These could have jackpots and carryovers that add to jackpots for bettors to try to claim.
“This product will really open up the amount of markets that you can wager on on NASCAR and keep you engaged in the race,” Solosky said.
... I want a Rainbow 6 ticket to anywhere
The partnership with 1/ST is how NASCAR hopes to get to that point. With the partnership formed, Solosky said NASCAR is giving 1/ST access to its official timing and scoring feed. 1/ST is taking that data and building the back-end platform that can be used by online sportsbook operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel.
NASCAR has data suppliers in the fixed-odds business who are continuing to grow those markets and bettors who will likely remain faithful to fixed-odds wagering no matter what. Ideally, Solosky said, pari-mutuel wagering on NASCAR will “live side-by-side” with traditional fixed-odds wagering.
When that will happen is still TBD. Solosky said 1/ST began developing the pari-mutuel product in September and demonstrated a first version to NASCAR about two weeks ago using data for the 2024 Daytona 500.
This Friday, February 21, there is a $200,000 Gross Jackpot Estimated Pool for the Rainbow 🌈 Pick6! First race post time 12:50PM. #GulfstreamPark #ChampionshipMeet
— Gulfstream Park (@GulfstreamPark) February 21, 2025
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Yet it will take more than NASCAR’s approval, as state gaming regulators will have a say. Solosky said those conversations have begun in addition to those with sportsbook operators about how to go about integrating the pari-mutuel product. Keith Johnson, the president of 1/ST Technologies, told Daily Racing Form that they’ve begun getting licensing applications ready to submit to regulators.
If the necessary approvals are obtained, Solosky said that “from an ideal perspective and a realistic perspective," pari-mutuel wagering could be live in one state and likely with one operator by the NASCAR playoffs in the fall. The last race of the season, the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, is scheduled for Nov. 2.
“And then in 2026 I would imagine all goes well for that one state and that one operator, then we're much more scaled out starting the 2026 season,” Solosky said.
Solosky did not say which state the partners are eyeing, but it is a "mature" one that has seen a lot of different products go through the regulatory process. After that, the priority states for NASCAR and 1/ST will be those that have legalized online sports betting, which would allow for pari-mutuel wagering to complement the existing fixed odds offerings.
It’s when you run out of those states that things get interesting. Solosky said there is the potential (pending all necessary regulatory approvals) to launch pari-mutuel wagering on NASCAR in a state that has legalized pari-mutuel wagering but not fixed-odds online sports betting.
That could put a state like California in play, a jurisdiction where it’s legal to make pari-mutuel bets on horse racing but not a moneyline wager on any stick-and-ball sport. Put differently (and, again, pending approval from regulators), someone could legally bet a NASCAR race in California before an NFL game. How that would work and what it would look like, though, is a ways off.
“We've laid out a priority of states that we're going to target first and none of those states that are in that kind of first or second priority wave are states that don’t allow mobile sports betting,” Solosky said. “But I assume in a year and a half, two years from now, we're probably going to have that conversation with Texas or California if they're not launched. The product will be a lot more mature then, and we'll have a lot more guidance from state regulators on how it could maybe exist in a pari-mutuel-only state, but still kind of serve the same mission that we're trying to accomplish here in a state that allows mobile sports betting.”
Another interesting opportunity provided by pari-mutuel wagering is the revenue it could provide NASCAR.
When someone bets on a horse race, a percentage of that wager will go to pay a track’s expenses and fund the purses for owners and breeders and riders of horses. For example, at the Stronach-owned Gulfstream Park in Florida, the takeout for winning bets is 17%, which rises to 26% for trifectas and superfectas.
This is somewhat different from fixed-odds wagering on a sport. If an NFL game were played in a wagering vacuum, both teams would be priced at +100 on the moneyline, or even money. However, sportsbooks offering fixed odds build price in vig for their betting markets, which is why something like Kansas City -1/Philadelphia +1 would have odds of -110 attached to it, not +100.
As part of the partnership with 1/ST, NASCAR will get some of the takeout for its races. Solosky said the takeout rate is still being determined for their races, but that it will “probably” be higher than that of horse racing given a dozen or so horses will run in a race but more than 30 teams are entered into any given NASCAR event.
Shattering the 'glass ceiling' with a Chevy
NASCAR is still considering how its share will be divided up amongst participants in its sport.
“On the track side, on the team side, on the driver side, we're having those conversations now of how all of those stakeholders participate in this product, in the hopefully ultimately successful launch and revenue opportunities that this brings, outside of just what our fans will see from an engagement and product standpoint,” Solosky said.
A rising tide of wagering on NASCAR could lift all boats, including that of fixed-odds sportsbooks weighing whether to add or expand existing betting markets for the sport. If those bookmakers see interest in pari-mutuel wagering on NASCAR, they may up their game on the fixed odds side of their business.
Solosky said NASCAR spends a lot of time trying to show sportsbook operators that there is a demand amongst bettors and convincing those books to offer more betting markets. But it is, he said, a sort of “chicken or the egg” quandary.
“Are people not betting on NASCAR because there's not a lot of markets, or are there not a lot of markets because people aren't betting on NASCAR?” Solosky said. “So this is one of the ways that I think will kind of shatter that glass ceiling that exists right now on the market cap for betting on NASCAR because of the risk-free opportunity.”
