Dover Downs To Take Auto Racing Bets Beginning Friday (Update)

NJ Horse Betting Tracks

UPDATE Sports fans will not be "able to place a legal sports bet" in New Jersey today after state officials late last night warned racetracks that they "must hold off on accepting wagers on sports games until Gov. Phil Murphy signs newly passed legislation to authorize such betting."

A source said that Murphy "likely won't sign the bill until next week at the earliest." Monmouth Park had "discussed being ready to accept bets" as soon as today at 5:00pm ET. But the state Racing Commission "put the state's three racetracks on notice that they need to wait for the governor's approval." Newark STAR-LEDGER

IndyCar asleep at the wheel. Why are they not on the phone with Dover Downs as we speak?

06/07/18 Dover Downs will add auto racing to its sports book tomorrow, and President & CEO Denis McGlynn said the move comes without any qualms from NASCAR. Dover Downs and Dover Int'l Speedway are on the same grounds and have common leadership, including McGlynn, but have different publicly traded parent companies. NASCAR has stayed quiet on its stance on sports betting since last month’s Supreme Court decision, but McGlynn said that he spoke to several NASCAR execs recently.

McGlynn indicated that the casino did not technically need NASCAR’s permission to add auto racing to its sports book, similar to Las Vegas-based sports books that have featured betting on NASCAR for years. Despite that, he felt compelled to talk to NASCAR about it giving the longstanding partnership between the sanctioning body and the Monster Mile.

Dover faces a unique situation — fans will now be able to place a bet at the casino and walk a few minutes over to the track to watch the action.

“My intent was just to have a dialog because it would have seemed strange to suddenly engage in this without having a single word spoken between us," McGlynn said. "We have since spoken. They were all down at the Hall of Fame voting session last month, and I made the rounds with a variety of NASCAR officials there. Everybody seemed up to speed on what was taking place and nobody expressed any different opinion than what I just expressed as far as the (positive) impact (for the sport from betting)."

DEEPENING FAN ENGAGEMENT: DIS President & CEO Mike Tatoian said that he envisions the track cross promoting sports betting at the casino on its grounds as a way to help deepen fans’ engagement with the sport. He noted that he has already been promoting the idea on his personal social media feed and expects the track's official channels to eventually do the same. He also said that the track plans to sit down at some point with William Hill U.S., Dover Downs’ sports book partner, to see if it is interested in doing marketing and activation at the track.

WHAT TO EXPECT: There will be betting on Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series races each weekend, as well as betting on Camping World Truck Series on the weekends when there is a truck race at Dover. Bets on IndyCar and F1 also will be taken. The bets will range from simply picking who wins the race to prop bets like finishing position of a certain driver or over/under on the number of drivers who will lead a given race. Adam Stern/SBD