Beshear Fights Online Gambling, Churchill Downs Buys YouBet.com

Governor Steve Beshear made it clear when he went after the Internet gambling community that betting from one's computer at home would hurt Kentucky's horse racing industry. Now, one of the biggest companies Beshear was trying to protect, Churchill Downs, is buying a major online gambling site.

Churchill Downs has agreed to purchase YouBet.com Inc. for an estimated $127 million. The deal would give Churchill Downs over $700 million worth of the $1.4 billion online horse betting market. That is a huge jump for a company whose Kentucky racetrack has been struggling for the past several years.

It is clear that Churchill Downs understands the amount of online betting that is taking place and the amount of growth potential for more Internet wagering. Bob Evans, President and Chief Executive of Churchill Downs, admitted as much when he said that he feels that over time, online gambling will increase.

It is unknown yet how Beshear will react to the news. Beshear unsuccessfully attempted to seize the domain names of 141 online gambling sites and vowed that he would continue his fight against the Internet gambling sites even after he overstepped his authority.

One of Beshear's biggest concerns when he attacked the Internet gambling sites was that Kentuckians were spending their money online at sites that were not located in Kentucky. The governor feared that outside companies were taking gambling money that could have been spent at Kentucky racetracks.

Now, Beshear will have an interesting dilemma. Churchill Downs has said that their plan is to continue to run YouBet.com as an independent company. They also have no plans to move the company to Kentucky from their current location, Burbank, California.

November 12, 2009
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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