How Fox Sports is using horse racing to tap into the sports betting market

Saturday, August 30, 2025 11:51 AM
Image aggregated from The New York Times.
  • United States
  • New York
  • Joe Drape, The New York Times

Mike Mulvihill is making a bold bet on an old sport that has been left for dead many times.

Mr. Mulvihill, a Fox Sports executive, knew that the old racetrack in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., had for decades drawn tens of thousands of New Yorkers and New Englanders, but was underappreciated nationally. And he believed that Fox Sports could widen its appeal.

“It is glamorous like Augusta but far more democratic and boisterous,” said Mr. Mulvihill, who is president of insights and analytics at Fox Sports. “I thought the more horseplayers as well as casual sports fans learned about it, it would become destination viewing for them.”