Sport is made for betting

News surfaced late last week that the state of New Jersey wish to sell off Monmouth Park thoroughbred track and Meadowlands harness track to help fix the state's ailing finances. One of the names mentioned as a potential bidder has been Betfair. Betfair interested in purchasing Monmouth Park Betfair, a popular exchange wagering company in England who also owns Television Games Network, is reportedly interested in purchasing Monmouth Park. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said three weeks ago that state officials would request proposals for the sale of Monmouth, along with rights to operating off-track betting. It's an interesting scenario. New Jersey is one of the two (along with California) states that have passed legislation to allow exchange betting in the near future, but there are still numerous battles to fight before that goes ahead - namely the legitimacy/morality of laying and the return to the horsemen's groups (i.e. prizemoney)... and that's before th...

News today that the governor of New Jersey has signed a bill permitting exchange betting within the state. It's not a given for Betfair or any other company trying to operate a betting exchange on horse racing, it just allows the possibility of such betting platforms. I posted a whole batch of reasons a month ago why investors in particular shouldn't be counting their chickens just yet. Here's the story from US racing bible, the Daily Racing Form. New Jersey governor Christie signs exchange-betting bill New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed bills on Monday that will legalize exchange wagering and a new method of pooling parimutuel wagers, the governor's office said on Monday. Both bills were supported by elements of the racing industry as the state continues to pursue ways to help the state's beleaguered gambling industries. Christie also vetoed a bill on Monday that supporters said would streamline the process by which offtrack betting locations are approv...

Over the past few months, there has been some excitement about the prospects of exchange wagering being permitted in the USA , particularly California and New Jersey. The governments of these two states have passed legislation to allow exchange betting on local horse racing, with Betfair heavily involved in the lobbying. All that has happened is the current gambling legislation has been expanded to include a racing-only betting exchange as an option, it's not a given, and it's certainly not a given that Betfair have the rights to it. There are still some huge obstacles a betting exchange has to overcome before a Betfair-branded exchange is up and running in the USA. 1 - the debate over the ethics of laying horses . That hasn't occurred yet, and there's no reason to believe American racing people will be any less antiquated than the rest of the world when it comes to explaining that you can effectively lay a horse via current wagering systems, it's just more comp...

Racing in many states of the US is really struggling. The Off-Track Betting (OTB) of New York is millions in debt (how you can run a monopoly tote at a loss is beyond belief), broadcast rights are a mess, politicians in Arizona thought it was a great idea to ban online betting altogether, Californian racetracks are being sold off to property developers or lobbying to increase takeout rates and trainers who are banned for doping offences in one state can simply up sticks and move to another. With the exception of a handful of tracks, it's a basket case. New Jersey moves forward with betting exchange plans This week New Jersey state assembly unanimously voted (78-0) in favour of a bill that would authorise a Betfair-style betting exchange for state residents on horse racing. Like everything in the US, it's restricted by state, but.. "The bill also provides that exchange bets submitted on a given market on the exchange in New Jersey may, under approved conditions, be matched...