New York City Off-Track Betting Going Online

12/4/09 - New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., a land betting operator, filed for bankruptcy this week and plans to reorganise after five years of losses totaling $45 million - and virtual horseracing is an option being studied, according to reports from the Bloomberg business news agency.

A lack of resources to build the type of modern race tracks that exist in neighboring states and dwindling cash levels were cited as reasons for the Chapter 9 filing, which listed as much as $500 million in debts against $50 million in assets.

The filing won’t halt gambling operations, said Meyer Frucher, chairman of the state-run corporation.

“We’re not going to be asking for any taxpayer dollars,” Frucher said. The reorganisation plan calls for a $250 million bond sale to pay debts and provide funds to buy new technology and improve betting parlours.

In September this year, Frucher hinted at what form such new technology would take, claiming that betting volume may increase as much as four-fold to $4 billion with updated technology, such as an around-the-clock horse-racing TV channel or virtual racing.

Since its 1971 inception, the company has made payments of $2 billion to the horse-racing industry, about $1.4 billion to New York City, and about $600 million to the state, according to court documents.

If the betting operation were closed instead of reorganised, New York City OTB would face debt of more than $600 million, Frucher said.

The state took control of New York City OTB’s operations in 2008 after Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would shut it down to stop losses.

B3W's white label poker growing - 02/03/2012 : Online poker software developer B3W's venture into the white label poker market with an all-inclusive product has paid dividends, according to the company, which this week reported that in six months four fully integrated poker rooms had been signed up for its Poker Pack Network.

Betfair public affairs manager speaks out for regulated online gambling - 02/03/2012 : Tom Tuxworth, public affairs manager for the listed British online betting group Betfair, told a South African parliamentary portfolio committee studying the possible legalisation of online gambling that prohibition only drives would-be internet punters to offshore and unregulated websites.

Suzan Smith, problem gambler blows 400k of bosses money - 02/03/2012 : A compulsive online gambler who stole almost GBP 400 000 from her employer was sent to jail in Norfolk, UK this week after a judge criticised her for stealing not only the money but a part of a decent man's life.

NEW IPAD APP FROM BETFAIR - 02/03/2012 : Betfair plc launched its next generation iPad App into the Apple store Friday, announcing that the bespoke native application is a marked enhancement from previous products and is the first to come out of Betfair’s development office in San Francisco

Boxing behind Betfair's latest sponsorship - 02/03/2012 : Betfair is the newest title sponsor of the Matchroom Sport Prizefighter series in a partnership deal that will deliver the online betting exchange branding rights across the ring and provide its customers with expert analysis and in-depth fighter interviews.