NYRA Announces Partnership Naming Game Of Silk’s Official Blockchain Game, Metaverse Partner – Horse Racing News
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NYRA Bets Holding, LLC, a subsidiary of NYRA Bets, LLC (NYRA Bets), the official online betting platform of the New York Racing Association, Inc., (NYRA), and Game of Silks (Silks), the online game connected to the real world of thoroughbred horse racing, has announced a new partnership resulting in NYRA Bets Holding, LLC acquiring a minority stake in Silks. In addition to this strategic investment, the partnership establishes Silks as the official blockchain game and Metaverse partner of NYRA.
Game of Silks launched in April 2022 with a mission to democratize thoroughbred racehorse ownership by delivering a cutting-edge experience to a new generation of technology-driven sports and gaming enthusiasts via the blockchain. The landmark agreement between NYRA and Silks will enable the global horse racing industry to capitalize on the rapid growth of Web3 gaming through Game of Silks, a top 10 sports-themed NFT platform on the Ethereum blockchain that has a community of more than 25,000 members.
The Game of Silk’s metaverse is powered by a playable game economy to serve as parallels to the IRL’s American thoroughbred racing economy. To enter the game, players must 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 the horses, stables and other digital assets in the game they own. Each year, Game of Silks tokenizes the annual breeding crop of around 20,000 thoroughbreds and turns these horses into in-game digital assets that are then sold to Silks players. Silks horse owners receive valuable rewards tied to real prize purses when the corresponding horse wins a race. They also receive valuable rewards when the real-life counterparts of their horses breed.
“This is a monumental deal that aligns NYRA with the fastest growing metaverse sports game in the space,” said Dan Nissanoff, founder and CEO of Game of Silks. “We clearly see the enormous potential that Web3 games and the metaverse have to offer horse racing, and this partnership will allow the sport to build an unprecedented interactive virtual experience that can attract millions of new fans.”
Game of Silks allows participants to acquire, collect, trade and interact with digital assets that represent actual thoroughbreds that can have productive racing and breeding careers spanning their 20-year lives. This creates unprecedented long-term utility for these NFT-based in-game assets. Beyond the racetrack, the Game of Silks ecosystem provides an opportunity for players to purchase a variety of NFTs, including parcels of land for the development of racing and breeding farms, stables and other racing-related digital assets to support the Silks ecosystem.
“Game of Silks provides its players with a fascinating and entertaining challenge by gamifying racehorse ownership in an entirely new way,” said Dave O’Rourke, NYRA President and CEO. “Silks captures the evolution of fan engagement and appeals to both the seasoned horseplayer and the complete newcomer, which is precisely why NYRA jumped at the opportunity to enter into this partnership. NYRA is committed to educating our fans about the Silks platform for to expand the game and ultimately increase horse racing’s fan base.”
NYRA will use America’s Day at the Races and Saratoga Live, the acclaimed national television programs produced by NYRA and broadcast on the FOX Sports networks, to provide Silks owners with the latest news, data and information about the Silks metaverse.
Going forward, Silks aims to build interactive digital replicas of the sport’s most historic and important racetracks. In addition, NYRA’s position as operator of Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack will now accelerate the creation of digital versions of New York’s premier racing venues in the Silks metaverse.
For more information about Silks, visit
