Keeneland to start account-wagering service.

Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., will launch a branded account-wagering service by its next live racing meet in October, the racetrack announced on Friday.

The service, which will rely on Twinspires.com, the account-wagering company owned by Churchill Downs Inc., to provide bet-processing and account-management operations, will allow customers to bet on Keeneland’s races and on races from other tracks, Keeneland said, potentially opening up a new revenue source for the track.

Keeneland’s signal is currently available on a variety of account-wagering platforms, including Twinspires.com, Television Games Network, and XpressBet. Under the arrangement with Twinspires.com, Keeneland will be able to control its customers’ interaction with the account-wagering platform and allow the track to tie promotions and marketing efforts directly to the site.

In a release, Keeneland’s president, Nick Nicholson, said that revenue raised through the site would go toward purses. A not-for-profit, Keeneland reinvests its revenue from both racing and auction sales into its racing program.

“After much thought and deliberation, we elected to move forward with launching our own [account-wagering operation] because we are committed to catering to our fans and providing them the services they want in a way that is convenient to them,” Nicholson said.

Keeneland began beta-testing a mobile betting application this spring, and the betting application is expected to be launched for commercial use in the fall. The application allows users of mobile phones to bet on Keeneland’s races through the track’s wireless network, using a magnetic card to track deposits and winning and losings bets.