NBC Sports is growing its footprint in sports betting with this weekend’s Kentucky Derby coverage. NBC Sports will air 30-minute digital show NBC Sports Bet: Derby Special at 5pm ET, to complement its linear coverage at the same time.
As first reported by The New York Post, the program joins NBC’s other recent gaming-oriented initiatives. Late last year, NBC Sports launched a Premier League predictor game around its coverage of England’s top football league. A version of the game has since been launched for the network’s golf coverage. And NBC Sports regional cable networks in Washington and Philadelphia have recently aired betting-related programs.
“Now there is such a movement of the acceptance of sports betting and it becoming much more mainstream, there is more of an appetite for it,” NBC’s director of sports betting content Dan Pozner told The Post.