North Carolina auto-race betting enthusiasts will be excited to hear that NASCAR announced a partnership Thursday with sports betting technology company nVenue to become the league’s official micro-betting data partner.
The multi-year partnership will mean, per NASCAR’s press release, that “nVenue will collaborate directly with the league to design and develop in-race odds for delivery to NASCAR fans via sportsbooks and operators. Unlike traditional betting markets focused on the end-of-race outcome, in-race markets will include unique betting windows such as stage results, qualifying, pit-road betting opportunities and more.
“nVenue will leverage official live racetrack data along with historical race data points to generate predictions and odds for each race and driver. These newly developed betting opportunities present thousands of additional ways for fans to engage throughout a single race.”
With legal online sports betting in North Carolina set to launch in 2024, this partnership will mean that when North Carolina bettors finally launch their sports betting apps for the first time during a NASCAR race, they’ll see a wider range of in-race betting options than ever before.
Widening the NASCAR betting window
Picking the outright winner will remain the most popular NASCAR bet type for some time, but NASCAR will widen the betting window through nVenue’s data technology.
Partnering with nVenue will allow bettors to pick those outright winners and top-five finishers but remain engaged in the days leading up to the race through qualifying time and practice-lap wagers and then through race day itself with a consistent feed of in-race wagering options.
Joe Solosky, managing editor of sports betting at NASCAR, told NCSharp it is one of NASCAR’s goals to create a “week-long betting opportunity” when there’s an upcoming race.
Matthew Stallknecht, senior business development executive at Tipico Sportsbook, emphasized to NCSharp that in-race betting “could be and should be offered live once the tech catches up,” which NASCAR’s partnership indicates will happen soon.
How does Genius Sports fit into this picture?
nVenue is now the second sports betting data provider to partner with NASCAR. In 2019, UK-based Genius Sports signed a deal with NASCAR “to build a high-end live betting product to be sold to legal sportsbooks around the world.”
That partnership, one year post-PASPA, indicated NASCAR’s early interest in innovating the sports betting industry.
At the time, Genius Sports was the exclusive provider of NASCAR’s racing data to sportsbooks. Since 2019, Genius Sports has built a portfolio of sports betting partners, including DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and BetMGM, that use its micro-betting data.
The nVenue partnership now means that NASCAR has two betting data providers that will need to find some synergy between each other.
NCSharp contacted Solosky about how NASCAR sees nVenue and Genius Sports collaborating to provide the best micro-betting product to bettors. Solosky emphasized the importance of creating visibility for nVenue among sportsbooks.
“It’s up to nVenue to get distribution into the sportsbooks so that our fans actually see the product,” Solosky said. “To that end, NASCAR will do what we can to facilitate those introductions to operators. On the Genius front, we’re encouraging both nVenue and Genius to discuss a partnership where Genius can distribute nVenue’s product to their portfolio of integrated operators.”
A stronger NASCAR betting market awaits North Carolina bettors
NASCAR betting in North Carolina will launch between Jan. 8 and June 14, 2024.
That means there’s a chance that the May 26, 2024, Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be open for betting, including a range of new live-betting options. And, we might add, the chance for a live retail sportsbook at the speedway.
With the potential for expanded betting markets awaiting auto-racing bettors, now’s the time to read up on bracket-style bets, stage betting, pit-road betting and head-to-head wagers.
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