Thirty-five years ago, Troy Levy would sit at Yonkers Raceway trying to figure out a way to bring a new and younger audience to horse racing with the hopes it would lead to new owners in the sport.
Fast forward to today, and Levy believes he has found not just the method to do so, but a partner who together can help grow the sport.
Game of Silks, an online game connected to the real world of Thoroughbred horse racing, and NYRA Bets Holding announced a new partnership Dec. 7 resulting in NYRA Bets Holding acquiring a minority equity ownership position in Silks. Levy is the game’s chief operating officer, vice president, and co-founder.
The partnership also establishes Silks as the official blockchain game and metaverse partner of NYRA. Game of Silks works by utilizing blockchain technology, which is a system that makes it virtually impossible to change the information that has been recorded.
“It’s truly an unbelievable marriage for a technology company to enhance the ability to attract many, many new people to the sport,” Levy said.
Levy is also the owner of the Florida-based Tropical Racing and the Versailles, Ky.-based Circle 8 Ranch.
To play, users are “required to purchase a non-fungible token (NFT) in the form of a unique racing silk, which represents their identity throughout the metaverse and appears virtually on their horses, stables and other digital in-game assets they own,” according to a press release.
Each year’s crop of real-life Thoroughbred foals is turned into digital assets which are sold to players, who do not initially know which horse they are getting.
This blind draw, Levy said, is vital to the game’s fairness.
“One of the parts of the racing industry that kind of in my mind pushes people away is that the horses with the best pedigrees are always going to the same people,” Levy said. “This way we completely level out the playing field; everyone that’s participating has the same opportunity for the same dollar amount to get the greatest-bred…
