Did you play ehorseX Sunday?

[BETKING]

The ehorse exchange worked fairly well. I got some better prices there compared to track odds. This new concept could be quite usefull. If you used it Sunday, please tell me what you think about it.
Thanks

BETKING :)

[HIman]

Yes and it was interesting, as the Derby post time approached the web site appeared to be overloaded because my PC refused to update and re- logins failed to help so I went to my Mac, and learned that eHorseX won't work on a Mac using IE so i quickly installed Netscape and was back online with eHorseX.

EhorseX matched $186,446. on the Derby, $626 on the winner. The lowest price available on Funny Cide was 17.5:1 and the best available was 27:1. The best actually matched was at 25:1. Majority of matched bets were locked in at 23:1 ($300) and 17.5:1 ($204).

Sunday (their second day of business) the site worked flawlessly on both platforms.
I only watched the prices on a few Hollywood races, comparing prices and handle with the racingchannel.com site.
eHorseX was matching bets on approximately 10% of reported handle at Hollywood which i beleive includes all simulcast wagers.

In a month or two I would think they will capture a greater share. Can anyone tell how much this will cost US tracks, it may be close to the % they handle compared to track handle but not exact, because they will surely bring in new bettors and increase the wagering of previously marginal bettors.

Is there anyway it could eventually icrease the tracks bottomline? I know that betfair in Europe is now considering sharing there 2-5% take with the tracks. Is anyone familiar with the affects betfair has had in Europe?

[penguinfan]

I was also watching and found several plays that if you matched early enough you could have played the other side later and locked in a profit, a small profit, but still it was guaranteed money. Does anyone know the legality of this out-fit? The ad I got from them in the mail came from the state of Washington, but aren't they just another off-shore outfit and thus illegal for US citizens to use? I know we tons of people use off-shore sportsbooks and never get in trouble, but the fact is they could and is it worth the risk? PLUS what guarantees your cash is safe?
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea and the site, just need to fill in the blanks on the above concerns first.

Penguinfan

[linrom1]

I t is my opinion that as long as these sites are illegal to US citizens and nationals, any solicitations no matter how they are presented should not be encouraged on this board. Any individuals that desire to promote such sites should be banned from this board.

[BETKING]

As for as I know there is nothing illegal about this site. If you have some evidence of this illegality please post it I believe that all you have is personnal speculation.

BETKING

[JustRalph]

It will hurt the tracks I think. If it is not supportive of the sport here in U.S. then I won't use them. As much as I hate the tracks and the way they treat us........ I don't want them to go away. If they start losing money to offshore outfits like this, then it is going to cost us more in takeout etc. :cool:

There has got to be a breaking point somewhere. Eventually these guys offshore will be taking too much money away from the tracks in the U.S.

On the issue of legality, I think I remember a while back the state of s. dakota was going to pass legislation making it legal to run a pool like this in their state. They backed off when they got tons of flack from the diff. anti gambling associations. But I also read that the legislation might violate federal law, and they didn't want a court case over it.

[GR1@HTR]

Maybe a good form of competition...If the race tracks see they are losing out to legit offshore wagering outlets offering rebates, lower take and so on, maybe they might join forces...But then again, maybe not.

[Pace Cap'n]

An interesting article about offshore books and the legalities and proposed regulations thereof.....


www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/20AD9F20153B4E9486256D1B006C80A1?OpenDocument&Headline=U.S.+bettors+send+vast+sums+offshore

[PaceAdvantage]

Actually, I believe there is no law on the books yet that prohibit you from USING these sites. They are just illegal to OPERATE in the United States. If I am wrong, please point me to some valid information explaining why.

This is what lawmakers call a fuzzy area of the law...from the users side of course.

[Pace Cap'n]

Quotes from the article:



While federal and state laws generally ban this form of wagering, prosecutions appear to be rare. Bettors in Missouri could go to jail for up to 15 days under state law, or in Illinois, up to a year,

Figures. I'm relocating to Missouri this month.

While Internet gambling is legal in many countries, neither the federal government nor any U.S. state allows it.

Which is not to say they disallow it.

[MikeDee]

I believe there is a federal law "the wire act" on the books that prohibits the use of telephone wires for gambling this was passed back the 30's to supposedly stop horseracing bookies. A few years ago it was ruled that this law applies to the internet

Within the last 2 years horseracing was granted an exemption from this law that makes internet and phone gambling on sites , like Ubet and the other online sites in this county legal. As long as your state does not have laws that forbid it.

Now when it come to enforcement, no one wants to wire tap, and come in and confiscate the PC's of 60 year old retirees who sit at home and make a few internet wagers for some afternoon entertainment, but they could if they wanted to.

The way they plan to stop it is to make it illegal for any institution in this county to transfer any money to and from offshore gambling sites from US citizens. They will have stiff penalties for the institutions and they will go after the institutions that break this law when (and if) it is passed.

[GameTheory]

The wire act applies to the operators, not the bettors. (Cannot accept bets, etc.) While I don't believe there is a federal law that applies to bettors, there are definitely many state laws that do specifically forbid it. Many of these same states have openly announced they aren't interested in prosecuting bettors, except possibly if someone is running a big operation or doing bookmaking in conjunction or something....

[midnight]

It must not be clearly illegal yet, since many US commercial sites offer links to offshore gambling.

Even if it's against the law, enforcing it is tough. There are gray areas that the Justice Department hasn't worked out. If and when they get on surer footing as to what is legal and illegal, they'll handle it just like they do the drug issue: working from the top down. In other words, a guy betting horses and sports probably won't be bothered (unless they're moving big numbers). An offshore book catering to US customers (and their US agents) will be a target. A little website with a link or two to offshore gambling probably won't be bothered for a while. The large websites will be ordered to take their offshore gambling links down. That's how it looks to me.

[MikeDee]

Get your off shore bets down while you can. Looks like the only way you will be able to fund your account in the future is fly down there and hand them the cash


http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=15631