TwinSpires Announces Departure From Online Sports Betting & Casinos

The state of Michigan will be down an online sports betting and online casino option sometime in the near future.

Thursday morning, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced that TwinSpires will be exiting the online sports & casino wagering venture.

A presence in the online industry since Michigan launched in January of 2021, TwinSpires will turn its focus to strictly horse racing.

Questions remain about timeline of TwinsSpires exit

Tuesday morning, CDI held an earnings call where it broke the news that it would be making the major change.

According to Horse Racing Nation, CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said, “We will exit the [business to consumer] online wagering space. This isn’t the result we wanted, but it is the prudent next step. We remain excited about TwinSpires horse racing.”

While not among the top online sportsbooks & casinos in Michigan, TwinSpires still had its consistent audience throughout the last year.

Partnered with Island Resort & Casino, questions remain about how Thursday’s news will impact current users of the product.

Questions raised to both Island Resort & Casino and TwinSpires by Playinmichigan include:

• What’s the timeline for the exit?
• What happens to existing accounts?
• Is someone else taking over the license?

TwinSpires has not responded to our inquiry as of yet. Island Resort & Casino issued a statement of, “We have no comments or information about TwinSpires at this time.”

History of TwinSpires in Michigan

TwinSpires doesn’t have a long history in the online sports betting & casino game.

Back on Jan. 5 of 2021, CDI announced that it was rebranding BetAmerica to TwinSpires.

“We remain focused on building a profitable sports betting and iGaming business that provides our customers with an integrated experience alongside our horse racing wagering platform,” Bill Mudd, president and chief operating officer of CDI said in a press release at the time. “The transition to TwinSpires not only generates marketing efficiencies, but also allows us to deliver a more complete overall experience to our growing online wagering customer base.”

BetAmerica Sportsbook had already been partnered with Island Resort & Casino back in September of 2020.

Since Michigan launched with legal online sports betting on Jan. 22, 2021, TwinSpires has found itself in the bottom tier of sportsbook options in the state.

It’s all-time online sports betting handle up through January of 2022 is just $22,193,228. That produced a gross revenue of just $1,432,880.

For its online casino, TwinSpires had a running revenue of $18,029,942 through January 2022.

TwinSpires staying in horse racing game

Despite the decision to step away from online sports betting & casinos, TwinSpires will remain one of the few options for Michiganders when it comes to online horse racing.

TwinSpires launched its online horse racing betting app in March of 2021.

In a bit of a complication for potential users, TwinSpires had separate apps for its horse racing betting and its online sportsbook & casino. While streamline attempts were reported, they never saw fruition.

The horse racing app for TwinSpires allows users to wager on races in over 30 states.

Popular tracks included on the TwinSpires app are:

• Aqueduct
• Belmont Park
• Churchill Downs
• Del Mar
• Monmouth Park
• Pimlico
• Santa Anita
• Saratoga
• Tampa Bay Downs

Locally, Northville Downs has a partnership with TwinSpires, as well as TVG.