US Racing (usracing.com), an international online horse racing service, reports a non-insignificant trend in cryptocurrency being used to place wagers on the 2025 Kentucky Derby, which will be held at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 3rd.
Millions worldwide will tune in to watch the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3rd. While some will make the journey to Louisville, Kentucky, to place their wagers at the betting window in person, others will use their local OTBs. People will place their Kentucky Derby wagers online at ADWs in the United States and international racebooks.
Over $100 million was wagered on last year’s Kentucky Derby race (setting a new record), and many expect to see the overall volume increase in 2025.
What was a nascent niche a few years ago has grown; increased acceptance by private gaming groups of Bitcoin and Litecoin from their customers has grown in tandem with the explosion of new accounts at exchanges like Coinbase, according to US Racing expert research.
“Right now, while punters are limited to a handful of private international gaming companies that will accept deposits with cryptocurrency, players with crypto wallets can use bitcoin, bitcoin cash, or litecoin to make a deposit and bet on the Kentucky Derby,” said Tim Maxwell, operations director of US Racing.
“However, both the legality and associated risk management of accepting cryptocurrency need further clarification before we see widespread adoption in the gaming and racing industry. The violent swings in bitcoin prices can add another layer of risk management that some public companies believe do not justify the added convenience for providing this deposit method to [their] customers,” said Maxwell.
However, just as organizations like OverStock.com, Expedia, Microsoft, and Bloomberg have decided to accept cryptocurrency payments, more online and land-based casinos and race books will follow.
“We expect a handful of publicly traded UK, Maltese, and Canadian gaming companies to accept Bitcoin deposits on a trial basis by early to mid-2023, followed by land-based race books and casinos in late 2023 and early 2024,” Maxwell added.
“While you can’t bet on the horses with Ethereum just yet, ETH holders have the next best thing available from a new blockchain startup, Ethorse,” said Maxwell. At Ethorse, the user can back their favorite coin and win like a punter backs a horse to win the 2025 Kentucky Derby.
Maxwell points out that “betting on the price of the coins themselves is not new, as there are various decentralized prediction markets online or in development like Ethorse and Augur.”
“Punters will be game for a flutter on whether BTC will beat XRP in a match-up or if ETH will win by a nose. Just because it is blockchain doesn’t preclude people from making bets,” Maxwell said.
Indeed, further applications of blockchain should be considered in the horse racing industry so that it leverages technologies that can protect the animals and their connections into the future.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
