One of horse racing’s most iconic companies is helping one of sports betting’s biggest names operate horse betting.
Churchill Downs Inc. announced Tuesday that it was partnering with DraftKings. The two gambling industry behemoths have a multi-year agreement in place for CDI to help DraftKings with its new horse betting platform, DK Horse.
DK Horse will launch in the coming months. DraftKings expects the platform to be available in 21 states, including the Bluegrass State.
Therefore, it will be another one of the countless ways to participate in Kentucky horse betting. Furthermore, DK Horse is expected to launch before the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby in May.
However, that is contingent on the Boston-based DraftKings clearing all the regulatory hurdles in the licensing process. But that is a state-by-state issue.
CDI uses TwinSpires to help DK Horse accept wagers
CDI already has its own online racebook technology, TwinSpires. Under the agreement, TwinSpires will provide its advance deposit wagering technology to DraftKings.
“We are excited to collaborate with Churchill Downs Incorporated, not only to give our existing customers an opportunity to engage with pari-mutuel horse wagering, but also to acquire new customers efficiently during marquee horse racing moments,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in a press release. “Due to the structure of the agreement, we expect this new product offering to be immediately profitable.”
Additionally, CDI will provide DraftKings with any horse racing content controlled by the Louisiville-based company. Then, DraftKings can use publish or stream that content on DK Horse.
“We believe the depth and quality of our online offering through TwinSpires is unmatched in horse racing,” said CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen. “We are excited to establish this relationship with DraftKings and to deliver a full end-to-end white label ADW solution that will introduce their significant base of sports betting customers to horse racing wagering.”
DraftKings Sportsbook is a powerhouse in the sports betting industry. But they are entering the pari-mutuel wagering space for the first time with their DK Horse product.
Pari-mutuel wagering has several key differences from the fixed-odds structure in the sports betting world. Thus, DraftKings is calling this format “pool betting.”
Deal mirrors recent CDI with DraftKings rival FanDuel
With the DraftKings agreement, CDI has partnerships with the country’s two largest online sports betting operators.
Last September, CDI made a nearly identical deal with FanDuel. But in that agreement, CDI used a different subsidiary, United Tote Co., to offer advance deposit wagering technology.
But FanDuel will also have access to all CDI racing content for its horse racing platforms.
The parties involved didn’t disclose the financial terms of either deal.
