Horse Racing Ireland Rejects Offer from Exchanges
Horse Racing Ireland rejected an offer from leading betting exchanges for the rights to Irish horse racing. Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of HRI, said the two groups got to together to discuss an offer but the exchanges' offer was "rejected with no hesitation." He added, "Over the years, we have made agreements with on-course bookmakers, and they contribute a huge amount to the industry. They pass on 0.5 percent of their turnover directly to the racecourses and also pay four times the admission fee to every meeting." Kavanagh said that with those policies in place, bookmakers paid more than €900,000 to the racecourses in 2003. The figure offered by the exchanges, he said, was nowhere near that amount.
British Racing Strikes Back
A top racing official in the United Kingdom has responded to the call from Australian insiders to ban foreign horses from their meets unless owners help Australian officials ban exchange betting. British Horseracing Board chief executive Greg Nichols angrily dismissed allegations that betting exchanges have caused fraud in the British industry. "Any assertion that British racing is ripe with corruption is baseless and spurious," Nichols said. "Betting exchanges present opportunities and threats to horseracing, but it is outrageous to impugn British Racing's integrity in order to advance an Australian agenda which seeks their prohibition." Nichols called on Australian racing authorities to stop "blackening the name of British racing." He also said that Australian racing will be the loser if British horses are banned.
IFHA Launches New Web Site
The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities this month launched its redesigned Web site at www.horseracingintfed.com. The new site features extensive and up-to-date information on the federation's work and deliberations. It also offers information on the classification of races from around the world, a quarterly handicap racing and national statistics update and links to members' Web sites. IFHA President Louis Romanet said the new site is intended to be a gateway for the racing industry. "We want the federation to become a true portal for information on horseracing across the globe," Romanet said.
Eklund Rips British Bookies
The head of a newly formed group representing smaller racing countries in Europe has had some verbal barbs for the U.K. bookmaking industry. Bjorn Eklund, chief executive of the Swedish Jockey Club and a representative of the nine smaller countries that formed the European Racing Development Conference, accused bookies of having "a very negative effect" on racing in Belgium. "We can learn a lot from the Belgian example about what happens when you let the devil loose," Eklund said. "Thirty years ago racing in Belgium was booming. The tierce was introduced in 1975, and turnover went up 10 times in three years. Prize money increased fourfold. There were many new owners and 1,800 horses in training." English bookmakers, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral, entered the Belgium market in 1984, he explained, but "left nothing to racing." He added, "The Belgian government should have been much tougher and forced the bookmakers to pay more. Now there are 600 horses in training, and Belgian horses, and their trainers and jockeys, go to France and Germany."
Turkish Racing Prepares for EU Entry
Turkey is taking steps to improve its racing industry in preparation for the country becoming part of the European Union in 2006. Turkish racing officials announced plans this month to open a new 500-box training stable at Ismet and expand it to 800 boxes in 2006. Umur Tamer, the recently elected president of the Jockey Club of Turkey, said that the progress has been fueled by improvements in betting turnover, which increased threefold over the last 10 years and brought €100 million to the Jockey Club in 2003.
Irish On-Course Bookies Approve Code of Practice
The Irish minister for sport announced a new code of practice last week for on-course bookmakers. The code, developed by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Irish National Bookmakers' Association (INBA), will take effect early next year. It includes a clause requiring bookmakers to display the minimum bet and guaranteed liability they will accept. Starting in January, it will be mandatory for bookmakers to issue punters a printed ticket for all bets displaying specified information about the bet as well as the contact details for Horse Racing Ireland. The code also requires bookmakers to show whether each-way betting is accepted and to price up the odds on offers no later than the public address announcement that the horses are leaving the parade ring.
Youbet.com Covets American Wagering
California-based Youbet.com made an offer through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of American Wagering Inc. (AWI) for $9.5 million. Youbet.com has offered to put up half of the money in cash and the other have in Youbet.com common stock. The company would also acquire Leroy's Horse and Sports Place, a wholly owned subsidiary of AWI that operates Nevada's largest statewide network of sports and race wagering facilities.
Leroy's has facilities in 49 locations and recently announced plans to expand to 60 locations by Dec. 1, 2004.
AWI, which has filed Chapter 11 protection, also owns and operates Computerized Booking Systems, Inc. which supplies nearly 85 percent of the sports wagering computer systems in use by Nevada casinos, and AWI Manufacturing, Inc., a manufacturer, distributor and supplier of race and sports self-service wagering kiosks. The bankruptcy court recently denied AWI's motion to exclude Youbet and other interested companies from filing competing acquisition plans. Youbet's reorganization plan must be confirmed by the court, which can accept, reject or request changes to proposal. The court has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 12 to consider Youbet's motion.
New Wireless Games
Magmic Games unveiled a new horse racing game aimed at the explosive growth of the wireless market last week at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's annual meeting and marketing summit in Las Vegas. Phil Giroux, the company's vice president of business development, previewed the game, which is branded "Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships." The game is available to customers of Nextel and Cingular phones in the United States and Telus in Canada.