Churchill Downs Inc., FanDuel reach bet-processing, broadcast rights deal

Churchill Downs Inc. has reached an agreement with FanDuel, the parent company of TVG and a major sports-betting operator, to provide bet-processing services for the company’s parimutuel wagering business and give the company exclusive broadcast rights to its stable of tracks beginning next year, according to an announcement from the two companies.

The announcement cements a relationship between the two companies at a time when Churchill has pulled back from its own mobile sports-betting ambitions and the racing industry has begun to consolidate some operations in order to ease its entry on to major sports-betting platforms. In August, Churchill announced that it had reached an agreement to sell 49 percent of its bet-processing company, United Tote, to the New York Racing Association.

According to the announcement, FanDuel will pay Churchill for bet-processing services for its own parimutuel operation, FanDuel Racing, and for TVG. In addition, FanDuel will receive exclusive broadcast rights for the signals from Churchill, Fair Grounds, Presque Isle, and Turfway Park beginning in 2023, but those exclusive broadcast rights will not extend to the Kentucky Derby or the Churchill signal for the entirety of Derby week, the announcement said.

Signals from Churchill’s tracks are currently available on TVG’s platform, which was recently re-branded FanDuel TV. Churchill operates its own account-wagering platform, twinspires.com, that competes with TVG.

Churchill officials did not immediately respond to an email.

Earlier this year, Churchill announced that it was shuttering its mobile sports-betting business, citing heavy competition in the market and the high costs of attracting customers. Churchill officials said that they instead intended to reach out to existing sports-betting companies in order to get carriage of its parimutuel products on their apps, a strategy that also is being pursued by NYRA.

FanDuel, which merged with TVG’s parent company in 2018, has said that it intends to allow its customers to use a “shared wallet” to make both fixed-odds bets on sports and parimutuel bets on racing from the same account. The re-branded television network is now featuring shows that are intended to market FanDuel’s sports-betting products, though live racing continues to be broadcast from noon to midnight on the channel.

“We look forward to working with FanDuel to deliver premium horse racing content to their expansive base of sports wagering customers,” Bill Carstanjen, the chief executive officer of CDI, said in a press release. “We are confident that FanDuel’s market approach teamed with our expertise and technology will seamlessly deliver horse racing content and parimutuel wagering solutions to a significant number of new fans.”