by Bob Duff

The major online sportsbooks in North America aren’t allowed by law to offer wagering on horse racing. This differs greatly from the United Kingdom, where online sportsbooks have been offering fixed odds betting on horse racing for decades.

In Ontario, bet365 and the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) reached an agreement in 2023 to begin offering pari-mutuel wagering on the bet365 sportsbook app through the Woodbine pools. While that hasn’t happened yet on the U.S. side of the border, the major players in the online sports betting industry are finding another method to make a power move into wagering on horse racing.

FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM have all launched their own standalone advance deposit wagering (ADW) sites in U.S. markets.

Flutter, the parent company of FanDuel, rebranded their TVG ADW as FanDuel Racing. DK Horse launched in partnership with the Churchill Downs-operated Twin Spires and BetMGM Horse Racing is working with NYRA Bets.

In 2022, The Stronach Group’s ADW company, 1/ST Technology, reached an agreement with PointsBet to form a sports betting/ADW partnership. However, that deal was left in limbo with the 2023 sale of PointsBet’s U.S. assets to Fanatics. Fanatics did acquire the ADW holdings of PointsBet in the transaction, but there’s been no movement to date regarding the formation of a Fanatics-1/ST partnership.

The betting numbers on horse racing might suggest that these changes being made by the online sportsbooks could be a welcome addition to the sport.

A recent report from Equibase indicated that the overall thoroughbred handle on horse racing in the U.S. during 2023 was the lowest number in 12 years. There was $11.6 billion wagered across the country in 2023, down 3.7 per cent from the $12.1 billion wagered in 2022. It was also the fourth time in five years that the handle on U.S. horse racing declined from the previous year.

If these sportsbook-operated ADWs can get sports bettors intrigued by the notion of betting on horse racing, perhaps it can help to generate an uptick in overall wagering on the sport.

From the perspective of the sportsbooks, they’re seeking to become one-stop shopping experiences for betting on all sports and they’d certainly love to slice off a piece of the more than $4 billion pie that’s wagered annually via ADW sites.

Let’s look at these sportsbook-based ADWs in the USA and see what they offer in terms of betting on harness racing.

FANDUEL RACING

This wasn’t so much a launch as it was a changeover. TVG was well-known in the ADW industry. FanDuel Racing is live in 28 states. There’s racing from more than 150 tracks and all races are live streamed. You can also download a FanDuel Racing app. And if you already have an existing TVG account or TVG app, you can still go that route to bet on the races.

Harness tracks on offer at FanDuel Racing include: The Meadowlands, Dover Downs, Yonkers Raceway, Northfield Park, Pocono Downs, Batavia Downs, the Delaware State Fair, and Hoosier Park. There’s also harness racing from Canada, Sweden, Australia and France.

DK HORSE

There are 20 states in which you can access ADW via DK Horse. It’s offered on a standalone app, but if you are a DraftKings customer, you may access DK Horse with the same login credentials as your sportsbook or daily fantasy sports account. All racing can be live streamed. DraftKings is working in partnership with Twin Spires, the ADW operated by Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

Harness racing tracks offered include: The Meadowlands, Northfield Park, The Meadows, Vernon Downs, Tioga Downs, Pocono Downs, Batavia Downs, Freehold, Hoosier Park, Scioto Downs and Saratoga, as well as harness racing from Canada, France, Sweden and Australia.

BETMGM HORSE RACING

Offered in Ohio, Florida and Louisiana, BetMGM Horse Racing is an affiliate of NYRA Bets, the official ADW of the New York Racing Association.

Providing racing from 200 tracks worldwide, you’ll find all the major U.S. harness tracks such as The Meadowlands, The Red Mile and Harrah’s Philadelphia, top harness tracks in European locales like France and Sweden, right down to tiny Canadian facilities such as Leamington Raceway.

You can download the BetMGM horse Racing app and there’s live streaming available of all of the races offered through the BetMGM site.