2023 Kentucky Derby Sets Records for Handle on Derby Day

• The 149th Kentucky Derby Race set a handle record at $188.7 million.
• An additional $100 million was wagered on other races in the Kentucky Derby Day program, marking a new record.
• The Derby Week handle also set a record in 2023, receiving over $400 million in wagers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs Incorporated announced that wagers from all-sources set handle records for the 149th Kentucky Derby race, the Kentucky Derby Week, and the Kentucky Derby Day Program races.

This Kentucky Derby main race was the most wagered in its history, earning a handle of $188.7 million from all sources.

The Derby also set a record handle of $288.7 million for the Kentucky Derby Day program. This year’s event surpassed the record set in 2022 at $273.8 million.

The Derby Week handle was $412 million, over $20 million more than last year’s event.

The official sportsbook of the Kentucky Derby, TwinSpires, only received 25% of the total handle wagered on the Kentucky Derby Day program. With a record handle of $73.6 million for the betting partner, the prominence of online horse betting was displayed at the biggest event of the year.

Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Incorporated, doesn’t see the record-setting trends stopping any time soon. Carstanjen claimed in a Churchill Downs Inc. press release that he expects to see “$14 to $16 million of growth over the prior record set last year.”

Mage won this year’s Kentucky Derby Race with 15-1 odds on legal sportsbooks.

News tags: Bill Carstanjen | Churchill Downs | Kentucky Derby | Mage | TwinSpires