PlayUp Enters Lucrative US Online Horse Betting Market Following Disastrous Kentucky Derby for Long Established Brands

Written by:
Don Shapiro
Published on:
May/17/2022

PlayUp is the latest horse racing app available to US gamblers on both Android and Applie iOS.  The pari-mutuel-based platform accepts wagers from bettors in key states, including California, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio and a host of others plus more that will be added soon.  PlayUp also offers a full sports betting platform in New Jersey and Colorado.  They also offer their Slots+ product featuring slots and scratcher games as well as other instant win offerings in more than 20 states.

PlayUp looks to take advantage of the gaffes that occurred with more established brands during the 2022 Kentucky Derby.  TVG was nearly impossibe to access at times while affiliates of TwinSpires reported tracking issues early on.  

Record betting handle was reported on this year's Kentucky Derby.  Churchill Downs announced a handle of $273.8M for the 14-race Derby Day card. Beats the previous record by $22.9M (9%) All-sources betting on the Kentucky Derby itself totaled $179M, also besting the 2019 record by $14.5M.

In addition to wagering on the Preakness Stakes, PlayUp offers hundreds of racetracks including thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing!  International racing including Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, UK, Ireland and France!

PlayUp’s U.S. Chairman is longtime racing veteran Denis Drazin who also serves as the CEO and Chairman of Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport, NJ. Drazin is also a past president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and he feels a resurgence for horseracing is already underway.  “As sports bettors get more and more comfortable with betting on their mobile devices it’s only natural that they look at other betting options including horse racing.”

Global CEO of PlayUp, Daniel Simic commented: “The launch of our online Racebook comes at an opportune time where you will see significant growth in the horseracing industry particularly as the U.S fixed odd’s market opens up. It is also a testament to the team at PlayUp to be able to deliver a product that taps into the US$12 billion a year sector. It’s an exciting time for PlayUp and our shareholders.”   

Meanwhile, TVG hopes to have its act together for the Preakness Stakes.  It blamed a third party for the disastrous downtime ahead of the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

A similiar situation occurred in 2016.  TVG then blamed "human error" and assured this would "never happen again".  It did.

The company issued a statement following this year's Kentucky Derby.

“We understand and appreciate that the service interruptions we experienced Saturday were frustrating to many of our valued customers and we will be communicating directly with those affected customers over the course of the coming days. TVG takes seriously its place within the racing community and the responsibility it has to deliver the very best fan experience. The issues our app incurred on Saturday did not meet those expectations. We have identified the cause, a technical issue related to a third-party service provider, and are actively making changes to our platform to ensure better performance moving forward.”

Gambling911.com reported significant traffic for this year's Kentucky Derby. 

- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com

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