Why you won't find Kentucky Derby bets on prediction platforms

The biggest horse race in the country, the Kentucky Derby, takes place Saturday in Louisville. If you're looking to make a wager on Kalshi, Polymarket or another prediction platform around the event — you're out of luck. There are no Kentucky Derby event contracts offered on the major prediction platforms, which host contracts on everything from sports outcomes to geopolitical events to reality TV show moments, but not horse racing . Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs, which owns the Kentucky Derby and the racetrack where it's held, told CNBC it's unlikely that horse racing will ever show up on prediction markets because the race track owners don't want it. "You need to actually go to us, those who own the race tracks, to cut a deal," Carstanjen said in an interview this week. "And from our perspective, that's not something we're interested in doing." Horse racing has long been something of its own little fiefdom. Betting on the races, America's original form of sports betting dating back to the colonial era, enjoyed special status even before the Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a law that prevented states other than Nevada from offering sports betting. By law, under the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, offering wagers on horses requires explicit permission from the host race track, the horsemen's group made up of owners and trainers and the state racing commission where the race is held. That's left the burgeoning prediction markets industry on the outs. …