Tuesday, Feb. 2nd

Just a reminder again to please choose Youbet.com

Advanced Deposit Wagering is now legal in the State of Illinois and the Illinois Harness Horseman’s Association is pleased to announce that Youbet.com will be the “preferred provider.” Under the law, the ADW companies must have a contract with an Illinois racetrack operator and each provider must have the consent of a local horseman’s group. The IHHA has consented to use You-Bet. If a bet is placed anywhere, within the State of Illinois, with You-Bet, on any racetrack around the country, the horsemen share equally in the profits. Twin Spires has reached an agreement with the Illinois T-Breds while TVG has an agreement with Fairmount and their horsemen. Illinois Harness Horsemen will only share in the profits of Twin Spires and TVG when a bet is made on our live product at this time. Those bets are treated just like any other out of state wager. All other ADW companies that are participating in Illinois are doing this in violation of the new law as they have no agreement with tracks or horsemen. So, what this all means is this. If you are going to wager on the internet with an ADW company, please choose You-Bet. We will share in the profits of that wager equally. 1/3 will go to Youbet, 1/3 will go the racetracks and 1/3 will go to horsemen.

ADW is a growing betting platform that has existed for the past 10-15 years. Until now, it has technically been illegal in the State of Illinois. The IHHA estimates that revenues to the purse account from You-Bet will be approximately $600,000 for 2010. While it is a decent amount of money and we needed to be a part of it, it will not vastly change the face of racing in Illinois, at least for the time being. The IHHA believes most of this money will simply be a transfer of money bet at the track or a local OTB to the internet. It is a growing trend however and it is what the customer wants.