Magna Files for California License
The rift between content providers of horse racing events in California is well documented. The Golden State continues to move forward with the regulation of account wagering. Once fully enacted, residents will be able to bet on horses via both the telephone and Internet.
Magna Entertainment surprised no one last week when it made its intentions official by applying for an account wagering license. The company plans to revive its current telephone betting service, Call-A-Bet, which it will be billing as XpressBet.
Part of the new system will be a multimillion-dollar installation of speech recognition technology provided by VeCommerce Ltd., the Australian firm that services TAB in Australia.
Regulators Ready for New Challenge
As the state's horse racing community gears up for account wagering in California, a large part of that transition includes the California Horse Racing Board. Officials with the CHRB are still awaiting a final legal review from government agencies but they say their staff is ready for the new technology.
The CHRB is more focused on developing the regulations in the proper way than racing to get a shoddy system in place, officials said. Under proposed regulations, auditors will be able to monitor betting action. Among the controls is a requirement that all account-wagering hubs download daily activity into the official CHRB database.
Woodbine Looks to Internet Betting
California isn't the only jurisdiction in North America that might be installing account wagering.
Officials with Woodbine Entertainment Group said last week that they intend to have Internet betting as an option for its punters within the next six months. WEG officials said enabling regulations are very close as the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association agreed to the concept of allowing electronic devices for use in placing bets. WEG feels strongly that legitimate Internet betting operations have to be established to curtail the growth of illegal sports books.
Massachusetts Could Introduce Phone Betting
Massachusetts could also join the growing list of states and countries to open their arms to account wagering this year.
The state's Racing Commission Chairman, Robert Hutchinson, told the Boston Herald that he hopes the way could be cleared by April for each of the state's four racetracks to get their own systems underway. Hutchinson said, "I expect that it will go in for a hearing in the next 30 days and hope to have it in operation on or before April 1. Everyone's signed off on it, but we still have to do the drill."
Under the new legislation, each track will be able to accept wagers by phone on all tracks that are offered the simulcast menu that day. There will be no change in premiums paid for intratrack signals in the state, and payoffs will be the same on account wagering as at the track.
Quova's GeoPoint Software Aids Racetracks
The future of Internet gaming in the United States may be unclear, but one software supplier is aiding European racetracks in making sure punters are logging on from the jurisdictions they say they are.
Seven online gaming sites in Europe have chosen Quova's GeoPoint, which allows them to comply with national laws and regulations requiring assurances that bettors are located where they claim they are. The system enables the companies' Web sites to identify the geographic location of their visitors in real time. It determines the location of Internet users by mapping the Internet infrastructure of more than 4 billion IP addresses.
Bluegrass State Horseman Close to Agreement
The chances of alternative gaming at Kentucky racetracks will lie in the hands of lawmakers, but as of mid-January, racetrack officials and horsemen's
groups were said to be close to agreement on revenue splits, a crucial component of any legislation that may be introduced.
Though officials chose to withhold details, given the sensitive nature of the subject, they indicated that discussions moved forward during the week of Jan. 14. A key part of the talks involved how revenue for purses would be handled. Revenue splits vary in states where racetracks offer alternative gaming. In Delaware about 11 percent of the net revenue goes toward purses; in 2001, the total was $55 million. The state's three tracks got $244 million, the state earned $176 million and vendors were paid $26 million, according to figures from the Delaware Lottery.
In West Virginia, 14 percent of gaming revenue goes to purses at Charles Town Races, and 1.5% goes to the state breeders' fund. Since only Charles Town offers races for West Virginia-breds, 15.5% of revenue goes toward purses at Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort, the state's other thoroughbred track.
MGM Moving Closer to Chicago Hotel
MGM Mirage could take over efforts to build a riverboat casino in Rosemont, Ill., near O'Hare International Airport. The endeavor would pump tens of millions of dollars into the horse racing industry, according to published reports.
The casino was authorized by a 1999 revision of the state's gaming and racing laws. A series of lawsuits and the refusal of the Illinois Gaming Board to approve the license of the current ownership group have held up the project. Reports in Crain's Chicago Business and the Las Vegas Sun indicated that MGM Mirage would pay more than $600 million to buy out the ownership group. None of the principals would comment on the reports.
Should the deal come to pass, the new owners still would have to settle or win pending lawsuits on several fronts and overcome continued opposition by anti-gambling organizations.
Aqueduct Could Get Huge VLT Terminal
The New York Racing Association has submitted plans to state regulators to build a 100,000 square-foot video-lottery terminal area at Aqueduct racetrack, but the chairman of the NYRA said the proposal won't work unless the state revises its new video lottery terminal law to give tracks more help with expenses.
Barry Schwartz, the NYRA chief, said state lawmakers "are going to have to get involved'' to address some of the racing industry's concerns about the VLT law that, according to the state agency administering the program, requires racetracks to pick up nearly all the costs of running the VLTs.
Tracks can keep up to 25 percent of the VLT revenues, but must dedicate a sizeable portion to purses and pay the operating costs with the exception of the VLT leases. Racetracks planning to get VLTs had until Jan. 18 to submit business plans to the state Lottery Division, which is administering the VLT program. Officials have said they expect the devices could be turned on sometime in November.