How has sports gambling in Kentucky affected horse racing? So far, so good.

When legalized sports gambling was proposed in Kentucky, one of the fears was that allowing people to wager on other sports would hurt the thoroughbred industry vital to the state’s economy.

To alleviate some of those fears, Kentucky law required sportsbooks to partner with thoroughbred and harness racing tracks around the state. The partnership would provide a source of revenue for the racing industry, along with the historical horse racing gaming halls at different tracks.

So one year into legalized sports gambling, has it hurt racing?

“No,” Steve Bittenbender, who covers the industry for betkentucky.com, said in September. “Kentucky Downs is more of a boutique meet, but it just had a banner meet that ended earlier this month. If Keeneland didn’t post record numbers, it was close to it.”

All sources wagering for Keeneland’s spring meet exceeded $218 million, the third-highest handle in track history. Churchill Downs’ 43-day spring meet saw total wagering of $708.3 million, up 15.2% over total wagering of $614.8 million for 42 days, the previous record.

“It has produced another revenue stream for the tracks and hopefully introduced some new customers to horse racing,” Bittenbender said.

Meanwhile, Ohio reported that its horse racing handle fell 14% in the first six months after legalized sports wagering was launched in that state.

In Kentucky, on-track parimutuel handle for thoroughbred racing improved 3.9% for the first two months that sports wagering was made legal.

“It certainly has not hurt, because our handle numbers and horse racing in Kentucky is extremely, extremely favorable right now compared to the rest of the country because of historical horse racing revenue,” said Jim Goodman, director of wagering development at Keeneland, who partners with Red Mile. “Except for Churchill’s meeting in September, which was kind of a disappointment because they didn’t have turf racing, all the numbers have been up. Kentucky Downs was up. Churchill’s spring meet was up. We were up in the spring.”

“I don’t think it’s hurt, personally, and that’s always been a little bit of a worry,” said Gabe Prewitt, vice president of racing and sports wagering operations at the Red Mile, the harness racing track in Lexington that is also home to a historical horse racing gaming hall and a retail sports wagering facility. “We’ve had a couple of our largest live racing crowds since sports wagering was legalized. I think it’s revived the property overall, the brick-and-mortar part of it.”

The vast majority of sports wagering is done online, but Prewitt said they have drawn good crowds to the retail facility at the Red Mile. That’s especially true around big events.

“We had a great atmosphere for the (Kentucky-Ole Miss football) road game,” Prewitt said.

“It’s crowded on weekends when you got kickoffs from football games, if you have NFL on Sunday,” Goodman said. “It’s a really nice place for people to watch; good TV coverage, easy in and out, and most of the people have figured out how to use the kiosk by now. So it’s just kind of a seamless operation.”

Plus, said Prewitt, because of sports wagering, the Red Mile is seeing a lot of new customers.

“I think for us, personally, brought a different brand to the property,” he said. “Obviously, you’ve got sort of your regular crew as far as demographic racing but I think we’ve seen a lot of new faces. I think it’s allowed us that local crossover, as you know, with our facility and our clubhouse.”

Prewitt said “we’re still learning as we go” and there will be new ideas to bring more customers to the track for in-person wagering.

“We’re looking at having a sports trivia night, game day specials. Road games are a real opportunity because everyone is looking for a place to go to go watch the games,” Prewitt said. “We had a huge Super Bowl blowout party last year for our first Super Bowl. I think we’ll do that again,” Prewitt said. “We had a March Madness party and gave away a ton of merchandise. I think that’s something we’ll look to try and build on and continue.”

Bottom line, as far as sports gambling’s effect on horse racing, so far so good.

“What I’m thinking is, is that it’s just another way of satisfying a demand,” Goodman said. “The way things are in Kentucky, I see no negatives.”

How has the first year of legal sports gambling in Kentucky gone? It’s a winning bet.

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