Horse racing chief urges to "make the most" of US online gambling carve-outs
17.10.2006The horse racing fraternity, flush with the success of achieving exemptions in the recently passed Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has not been slow to underline to members the advantages this gives the sector.
The Thoroughbred Press reports that Greg Avioli, acting chief executive of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders' Cup Ltd., encouraged the many racetrack executives and simulcast coordinators in attendance at the 14th Annual International Simulcast Conference in Philadelphia to "make the most" of racing's opportunity to be the only legal online gambling game in the country.
"The [horse racing] industry is squandering an opportunity as the only legal provider of Internet gaming," Avioli said on Monday at the conference. "We have a golden opportunity in our hands."
Avioli suggested that the industry pool its resources and develop one online site for wagering.
"There's iTunes for everyone's music needs, so why can't there be iHorse," Avioli said. "We only need one site. One site would get more visits than multiple sites combined."
A grateful Avioli reminded the crowd to continue to donate to the Horse Political Action Committee to fund the industry's clearly successful lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.
Avioli also had a lot to say about amending the Wire Act 1961 as the next step to protect horse racing.
He said that whilst the racing industry is pleased that horse racing is exempted from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that bans Internet gambling financial transactions, racing's ability to conduct wagering over the Internet will "not be safe" until Congress amends the Federal Interstate Wire Act of 1961.
President George W. Bush signed the Internet gambling ban into law on October 13, but language in the bill specifically mentions the ongoing disagreement between the racing industry and the United States Department of Justice regarding the Wire Act and whether it prohibits wagering via the telephone or Internet.
"The legislation does not resolve that disagreement," Avioli said. "The U.S. Department of Justice says that the Wire Act trumps the Interstate Horse Racing Act, but Congress took no position on that, so the courts will have to decide, and that's a good thing."
The new Internet gaming prohibition, which Bush signed into law as part of a port security bill, has two exemptions: the first for activities made legal by the Interstate Horse Racing Act, and the second for states that legalize intrastate online gaming.
Avioli said that racing could breathe a bigger sigh of relief if Congress amended the Wire Act to include language that acknowledges the Interstate Horse Racing Act.
John J. Farmer Jr., the former attorney general of New Jersey who now works on gaming issues as a consultant for Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, told delegates that recent indictments of offshore gaming executives have signaled the government's willingness to enforce the Wire Act in regards to online gaming.
In an unconnected but nevertheless interesting and relevant report published in the Australian publication Virtual Form Guide this week, horse racing's vulnerability to competition from other gaming sectors was illustrated. Australian horse racing turnover, A$8 billion in 1986, has risen only moderately to A$14.5 billion over the past twenty years.
The study reveals that in Australia gaming on poker machines and at casinos has become dominant. Racing has reduced from 50 percent to a minority 10 percent share of the overall gambling market. Sports betting, unlike in Europe, the States and Asia, is in its infancy and together with online poker and gaming, will provide significant growth going forward.
