A state law allowing such wagers was signed off by Gov. George Pataki in late July, reports Times Union and supporters say it should "...help capture millions of dollars in horse racing bets that now go to other states or private online wagering operations."
Despite the alleged moral and criminal dangers to Americans represented by online casinos and sportsbetting, legislators have for years wheeled and dealed on exemptions to their banning efforts when it comes to online state lotteries and the powerful horseracing sector. The lure of big revenues from Internet wagering has clearly not been ignored by either politicians or governing bodies and this week leaders in the sector appeared to be pleased with the new state law.
Governor Pataki's enabling law for horserace betting on the Internet and over the telephone supports an effort by the state's horse racing industry to "...reach out to younger bettors, including members of the Internet-savvy Generation Y as well as baby boomers who increasingly use computers for shopping, communicating and other tasks," Times Union reports.
Stating the obvious, Daniel Wray, executive director of legislative affairs for the New York City OTB said: "This is a very big win for the entire racing industry. This was already being done under our noses," Wray said, explaining that countless New Yorkers were believed to be making horse racing bets with wagering Web sites even though it was "technically illegal" to do so.
"The Internet has become such a big part of the way people live, and we need to be able to change with the times," said Bill Nader, chief operating officer for the New York Racing Association, which holds the franchise for horse racing in the state.
Mike Connery, president and CEO of Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., said the meteoric rise of online betting has "decimated us over the past couple of years," taking a sizable chunk of business from the state's OTB parlours, where horseplayers can wager in person or through phone systems like Phone-A-Bet.
Internet gambling is considered more profitable for the industry because it doesn't require phone operators to take the bets.
Capital OTB got a wake-up call about the growth of online betting about five months ago at its popular Tele-Theater on Central Avenue in Albany. Workers at the betting parlour one day found the windshields of patrons' cars in the parking lot plastered with fliers urging people to open accounts with an online betting firm. The company offered players $200 if they opened an account with $200 of their own, said Connery.
The fact that a private operation could offer $200 signing bonuses prompted regional OTBs across the state to intensify their efforts to legalise online betting.
Thirteen U.S. states currently allow online horse betting, said Nader. And a bettor who lives in a state where it is legal, such as Oregon, can bet on a Saratoga race. But a Saratoga Springs resident can't legally do so.
Such betting is extremely difficult to police.
Explaining the apparent anomaly between banning other forms of online gambling but permitting horserace betting using telephone and Internet connections, state Sen. William Larkin, R-New Windsor, who sponsored the legislation along with Assemblyman James Pretlow, D-Mt. Vernon, said the law doesn't cover offshore betting Web sites, which are beyond the control of state and federal regulators and technically off-limits to U.S. citizens.
Online and telephone horse betting are notable growth areas in an otherwise-stagnant horse racing industry, at least in terms of the amounts of money being wagered, said Doug Reed, director of the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program, which trains horse racing workers and follows the industry intensively.
In a masterpiece of understatement, Reed said: "It keeps growing quite a bit," and cited the convenience of online transactions and the popularity of such betting with college students and others who have fueled the current poker craze.
The Oregon Racing Commission provides a case in point. It operates one of several national "hubs," which route wagers made by a variety of online betting companies. The second-quarter "handle," or amount bet through the Oregon hub with one such company, Youbet.com, rose from about $26.3 million in 2002 to $33.6 million this year.
"We keep getting more and more convenience in our lives, and the Internet has done that for a lot of people," said Reed.
The law is slated to take effect 180 days after Pataki signed it, which was on July 26. The state Racing and Wagering Board will develop regulations for Internet betting.
What the World Trade Organisation, already embroiled in an Antigua vs USA dispute on this sort of carve out will make of the latest move is yet to be seen.
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