Is Twin Spires Taking Over the World?

I have been watching the news with Bob Evans, Churchill's CEO, and Twin Spires in general. For those who do not know, Twinspires.com is Churchill's ADW arm, and they have sunk a pile of cash into it, and offer players many features (like the very good TwinspiresTV).

As we spoke about below, they have sent Jill Byrne to Las Vegas to cover the National Handicapping Championship. Her features are here, and they will be updated for the Championship. This is a good idea and what I hope we can do for our contests in the future. Here is episode 2.



I personally think they are trying to stake their claim over the internet betting landscape. They seem to be everywhere - advertising in magazines, giving out money for handicapping contests, many promotions and things like that. Will they succeed? I don't think they can win all of the business without hefty rebates, because big players depend on them to give them a shot. Sure TwinspiresTV is nice, but if you are betting $1000 a day and getting 8% back from an ADW like RGS, it is not worth $2400 a month. Heck, that is like paying 24 cable bills, 500 channels each.

Regardless, when we have spoken many times about ADW sinking cash back in the game, and broadening its reach by using the internet this is pretty much what we are talking about. Twinspires has a budget, and is not afraid to use it to not only grow their business, but to grow the sport.

Raging against the machine below I noticed that yes, I was speaking about advertising against slots, and slots are used for purses in many places. So it is dichotomous. But as you know, this blog is about growing the game of racing, and that is what we always focus on.