Before the start of the 152nd Kentucky Derby, DraftKings expanded its horse betting product into six new markets including Florida, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Oregon, bringing the total coverage of DraftKings Racing to nine jurisdictions. This product is not entirely new but evolved from the standalone app DK Horse launched in 2023, gradually integrating into the main DraftKings sports betting app—users can now place horse bets directly within the main app using a shared wallet and unified account, without the need to switch to another standalone app. Johnny Avello, the director of race and sports operations at DraftKings, summarized the product logic in the press release as speed and simplicity, allowing players to bet across sports in one place, creating a more connected and seamless experience.
From DK Horse to embedded in the main app, the super app strategy's horse racing puzzle
DK Horse had previously covered 26 states, and on March 31, DraftKings announced that it would gradually replace the standalone app with DraftKings Racing in each jurisdiction, with Delaware, New Mexico, and Rhode Island being the first three states to launch. DK Horse will continue to operate in markets where the replacement has not yet been completed, and will phase out as DraftKings Racing enters. The underlying architecture of the product uses the same pari-mutuel betting model as racetracks and off-track betting stations, meaning it fully complies with the independent regulatory frameworks of each state's horse racing—In some jurisdictions, horse betting can even be offered independently when online sports betting is not yet available. DraftKings stated that the horse racing channel will continue to expand throughout 2026, but availability will depend on state regulations, as the regulatory framework for horse racing operations is separate from that of online sports betting.
The traffic leverage of the Kentucky Derby
To capture the annual peak traffic of Derby weekend, DraftKings also launched a million-dollar bonus promotion called "King of the Track." Players only need to participate in the event and place a qualifying bet of $5 or more on the winning horse to share the $1 million cash prize pool. From a business logic perspective, this strategy is precise because the Derby itself attracts a large number of regular sports betting players who do not usually engage in horse racing, and the betting entrance embedded in the main app eliminates the last friction of downloading another standalone app. For DraftKings, horse racing is a low-frequency but high-explosive niche track, and by integrating horse racing with sports betting, prediction markets, lotteries, and casinos within the same account system through a super app architecture, it essentially reduces horse racing from an independent product to a traffic node within the entire betting ecosystem. The product also includes responsible gambling tools such as My Stat Sheet and My Budget Builder.
PASA official website continues to track the integration of North American sports betting products and horse betting market trends, noting that DraftKings' approach of migrating horse racing from a standalone app to the main app forms a differentiated contrast with the strategies of competitors such as FanDuel and BetMGM in the horse racing field.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
