Churchill Downs Inc. made its biggest catch yet in an effort to bring its pari-mutuel betting platform to sportsbook operators when it signed a multi-year deal with FanDuel, according to Covers.
The search for partner mobile sportsbooks keeps Churchill Downs in the game after giving up on its own aspirations in that arena, questioning the chance for profits. The Kentucky-based company also retains retail sportsbooks in its gaming venues.
Churchill Downs, through its TwinSpires platform, is confident about the future of adding horse racing to the list of legal sports betting.
“While we continue to like retail sports wagering, our interest in online sports has shifted to the [business-to-business] model focused on providing technology and horse-racing content to facilitate pari-mutuel wagering on third-party sports wagering platforms,” CEO Bill Carstanjen told analysts and investors late last month.
The TwinSpires team is negotiating more deals.
What Churchill Downs does is provide FanDuel with technology and services to let customers bet on pari-mutuel races in 2023 using the FanDuel Sportsbook and TVG.
“CDI will provide FanDuel wagering rights to horse racing content owned or controlled by CDI, including the Kentucky Derby, and will receive customary content fees when FanDuel accepts wagers on CDI-owned content,” the company said in a press release. “FanDuel will also receive exclusive television rights to the racing content of all CDI thoroughbred racetracks, including Churchill Downs Racetrack, once its existing non-Derby media rights deal expires in 2023.”
