Churchill Downs Incorporated is set to drop its BetAmerica brand and rebrand its products under the TwinSpires brand.
Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has announced it will rebrand its sportsbook and online gambling product from BetAmerica to TwinSpires, the brand it uses for online pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing.
This comes as CDI prepares to migrate its betting and online gambling products from SBTech’s platform to a new platform provided by Kambi and GAN.
Dropping BetAmerica for TwinSpires
CDI’s rebranded TwinSpires product will first launch in the state of Michigan. The operator was one of 15 online gambling operators granted a provisional betting license and is expected to launch later in January.
CDI also plans to rebrand its existing land-based and online BetAmerica sportsbooks in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania during the first half of 2021.
Bill Mudd, President and Chief Operating Officer of CDI, said: “Our TwinSpires brand has consistently delivered over 13 years and is associated with more than a century of wagering experience. That history and heritage offers a unique point of difference in a competitive space.
“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. 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.”
A cross-sell between horse racing and betting and a fresh start for CDI
The TwinSpires brand was originally launched by CDI in 2007 and according to the operator it is “widely recognized within the online betting world.”
Although the operator said that the brands’ history and recognition were the main reasons for the decision to rebrand, there is also the opportunity for cross-selling between horse racing bettors and sports bettors.
International operators like ATG in Sweden, and FanDuel in the US with TVG, have shown that the cross-sell between horse racing and sports betting can be incredibly effective.
The rebrand also marks a fresh start for CDI in the US online betting space. According to Pennsylvania’s sports betting figures from November, the operator had less than 1% of the market share in the state’s sports betting market. However, the operator did not spend a great amount on promotions.
