Kentucky is already famous for bourbon and basketball, but it’s looking to add a third B to its arsenal — betting. This year’s Triple Crown races — the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes — saw record participation from bettors, thanks to broadcast deals, track partnerships, and the recent legalization of sports betting in Kentucky.

• Churchill DownsCHDN
  , the operator of the Kentucky Derby, reported a record $320M (+11% YoY) in total handle for the race — more than $92M of this came from bets placed through its official betting app, TwinSpires.
• FanDuelFLUT
  noted that a record 800K customers bet on the Triple Crown through its Racing app and TVG horse betting app — a 15% increase from last year.

Horse power: Besides sports betting giants setting records, racehorse investing is also growing by record numbers, fueled by the popularity of fractional investing platforms. This year’s Preakness winner, Seize the Grey, was fractionally owned by over 2K investors on MyRacehorse. These investors bought shares in the winning thoroughbred for under $100 and received a cut of the race’s $2M pot.