Virginia’s prominent role in the racing world has made it the focus of a new partnership between NASCAR and WynnBET.
On Friday officials from the two companies announced a multi-year national sports betting partnership. As part of the deal, Wynn will pursue an online sportsboook in Virginia to serve as the sport’s official sportsbook in the commonwealth.
Whether or not Wynn will seek its own online betting license or try to utilize one of the two raceway’s options to obtain a sports betting license is unclear.
WynnBET seeking VA betting license
WynnBET offers a mobile sportsbook, as well a casino app, depending on the state. However, only the sportsbook app is legal in Virginia, where sports betting is expected to launch in January.
There will be retail betting in the state eventually though. With the final legislation, the Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Ralph Northam ensured that Martinsville Speedway that Richmond Raceway can apply and obtain licenses to run a sportsbook on-premises at the track.
If WynnBET is licensed in Virginia, it would become the official online sportsbook of both Martinsville Speedway and Richmond Raceway.
Additionally, as part of the NASCAR deal, WynnBET plans to expand its portfolio of NASCAR bet types offered throughout its app. Those wagers could include:
- Pre-race bets
- In-play bets
- Winning driver
- Driver matchups/head-to-heads
- Stage winners
- Number of the winning car (over/under)
Xfinity 500 will show some of Martinsville’s betting potential
Virginia has more NASCAR Cup Series per year than any other state. Martinsville and Richmond both hosts two races per season in NASCAR’s top series.
International Speedway Corporation, which is a NASCAR-owned company, operates both VA racetracks. They also run other tracks others across the US, including Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and Darlington Raceway, among others.
The WynnBET sports betting lounges would be another race-weekend attraction for Virginia’s racetracks. The speedways essentially become their own cities on race weekends.
This weekend, for example, Martinsville Speedway hosts three races on back-to-back-to-back days. The NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Truck Series all host the second-to-last races of their 2020 seasons.
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly limited the number of race fans who can attend races at “The Paperclip” this weekend. However, on most race weekends, tracks like Martinsville would have tens of thousands of attendees. Many of them are likely to want to place a bet on the racing action.
The same would go for Richmond Raceway, as track president Dennis Bickmeier stated:
“Richmond Raceway and WynnBET have a number of shared attributes. We are both strong, trustworthy brands that believe deeply in customer hospitality and creating incredible experiences. We wish the Wynn well in their future endeavors here in the great Commonwealth of Virginia and look forward to years of successful partnership.
