Jockey club CEO for online horse racing

Maryland Jockey Club CEO Joe DeFrancis has been tapped for what could be a controversial appointment - head of electronic operations of the Jockey Club parent company Magna Entertainment.

Controversial, because this division will oversee all of Magna's interactive betting channels through a new uber-company called PariMax...and the fact that whilst the USA ostensibly objects to online gambling on moral grounds and seeks to ban it in its World Trade Organisation Internet dispute with Antigua, this could be seen as more hypocracy. Horse racing carve-outs have been highlighted in the WTO's latest rulings, with which the US must comply by April 3.

Parimax includes XpressBet, a phone and online betting service; HRTV, a horse-racing television channel; MagnaBet, which offers online betting in several countries; and RaceONTV, which broadcasts live races from Magna tracks. It also includes Magna's 30 percent stake in Hunt Valley-based betting systems company AmTote International.