GATES OPEN FOR WEB HORSE RACE BETTING.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wires Services SACRAMENTO - A company owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch stands to make millions from legislation newly signed by Gov. Gray Davis allowing online and phone betting on California horse races Flat races Argentina
Only the Television Games Network offers viewers a chance to watch horse races around the country and place bets by telephone, putting the company in a unique position to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. a measure Davis signed into law Monday. ``TVG TVG TV Guide (magazine) TVG Televisión de Galicia TVG Tierversuchsgegner (German: Antivivisection) TVG Television Games Network TVG Toronto Venture Group TVG Tri Valley Growers TVG Time-Variable Gain is probably the model right now,'' said John Van de Kamp John Van de Kamp (born in 1936[1]) served as the District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles from 1976 until 1982, and then as 28th Attorney General of California from 1982 until 1991. , president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and a former California attorney general The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of the government of the state of California in the USA. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (California Constitution, Article V, Section 13. . ``They have contracts with local cable providers, agreements with tracks.'' TVG inked a deal in May with Woodland Hills-based Youbet.com, an online wagering company for horse racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with , to make it easier for gamblers to bet via the Internet. Youbet benefits from the legislation as it opens the gates for California residents to place bets via the Internet. ``California's a racing state, and this (legislation) opens up one of the largest markets in the country,'' said Ron Luniewski, executive vice president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Youbet. TVG had little involvement in the legislation. The new legislation by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg Robert Myles Hertzberg was born on November 19, 1954 in Los Angeles, California, was an attorney and businessperson, and served in the California State Assembly from 1996-2002. , D-Van Nuys, opens the door to several out-of-state companies such as TVG whose business is taking bets over the phone and Internet. Although Hertzberg's personal campaign account received no horse racing contributions this year or last year, the Assembly Democratic Leadership Fund, which he controls, received $24,500 from track owners or racing associations. Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. contributed $10,000 of that total. Churchill Downs, a company that owns race tracks and has an exclusive contract with TVG to broadcast its races, employed several lobbyists, including one of Davis' key fund-raisers, to help pass the new law because racetracks will get a cut of the online horse race betting. TVG is a subsidiary of Pasadena-based Gemstar-TV Guide International Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. is a media company that licenses interactive program guide technology to multichannel operators, such as cable and satellite television providers, and consumer electronics manufacturers, video recorder scheduling code under brands such as VCR Inc., a company owned largely by Murdoch's huge News Corp. Ltd. Another Murdoch holding, Fox Inc., contributed $150,000 to Davis in 1999. ``What a coincidence,'' said Art Croney, a lobbyist for the Committee on Moral concerns, which opposed the new gambling law. ``Something changed the governor's mind in the last year, and it wasn't public opinion.'' Garry South, Davis' chief political strategist, said there was no connection between the contribution and the governor's approval of the law. ``I think the governor's signing message indicated very clearly why he changed his mind about the bill,'' South said. ``It has to do with changes in federal law and changes in the bill itself.'' Last year, Davis vetoed a similar bill that would have allowed online and telephone gambling on horse races, saying it represented an expansion of gambling. This week, however, he reversed himself, citing changes in federal law allowing Californians to place phone and Internet bets in other states where such betting is legal. He also said it contained provisions to prevent minors from betting online and by telephone. Davis' OK gave the horse racing industry what it wants most - a way to reach a wider audience of gamblers. ``Advance deposit'' wagering - the process Davis approved - allows a person to put down an advance deposit and then use a phone or the Internet to make bets. The law takes effect Jan. 1. Wagering on horse races is now limited to 34 sites: the race tracks themselves, betting pavilions at state fairs and Indian casinos. TVG has exclusive rights to air races at several of California's largest tracks including Del Mar Del Mar is the name of several places in the United States of America:
``On a national level, nobody is doing a television network dedicated solely to horse racing,'' said John Hindman, a spokesman for the company, which is eager to expand into California, the second-biggest horse racing market behind New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The company operates a betting hub outside Portland. Bettors get accounts with PIN numbers for security and cannot bet more than is in their account at the time. TVG began as a horse-racing industry experiment to counteract falling track attendance by broadening the audience interested in the sport of kings. TVG is available through cable or dish networks in 7.2 million households nationwide. It is unclear whether TVG would be the exclusive betting center for California or one of several. The law doesn't say how many vendors can take phone or online bets. That, and other issues, will be decided by the California Horse Racing Board after series of public hearings beginning later this year. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Rupert Murdoch Stands to make millions |
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