Online Betting Breakthrough For YouBet
Published: Friday, May 20, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
ONLINE BETTING BREAKTHROUGH FOR YOUBET
The $400K compensation must be worth it...
The Tacoma News Tribune reported something of a breakthrough for online gambling in Washington this week. It may not be big for online casinos, but it does take a step in the right direction.
The State Horse Racing Commission has agreed to license Youbet.com, an Internet gambling company that for years had been *illegally* accepting millions of dollars in bets from Washington residents.
The license allows California-based Youbet to accept online bets on horse races around the country from Washingtonians and requires the company to give the state's horse racing industry a cut of each bet. The company had been taking roughly $12 million a year in bets from state residents, according to the commission.
As a condition of the license, Youbet. com must pay the state $400,000 to compensate for wagers it accepted illegally in 2004.
It's new turf for the state, which had banned all Internet gambling until last year and is still feeling its way on who should be allowed to offer it and how to regulate it.
Commission Chairman Gary Christenson said, "By giving (Youbet.com) a license, we are insuring that the state of Washington is getting the money that's due it. If we didn't give them a license, it wouldn't guarantee that they'd stop."
Last year, the state Legislature legalised another form of online gambling called "advanced deposit wagering" on horse races. Youbet.com is the third company to get a state license since the law passed.
Robert Leichner, the Horse Racing Commission's executive secretary, said it's the job of the Washington State Gambling Commission, not his five-member racing commission, to enforce laws against illegal Internet gambling.
Ron Crockett, owner of Auburn's Emerald Downs, the state's only top-tier horse track, supported the license for Youbet. Emerald Downs has to sign a contract with Internet gambling companies before they become eligible for a racing commission license.
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