Betfair was the subject of a glowing article in the publication Venture Beat this week which looked at the UK betting exchange’s astute move into American horse racing. The move legally exploits the “carve-outs” in the often confusing US political deal-making process and discriminatory federal laws that permit online betting on horse racing.
Betfair is strongly positioned in the sector following its acquisition of the Los Angeles-based American TV Games Network (TVG), an online horse race betting company with its own TV channel, for $50 million in January 2009.
Though it operates in only 16 states, the ten-year-old TVG operates the largest legal online gambling web site in the U.S., says Tony McAlister, chief technology officer of Betfair. And its horse racing channel reaches a massive 72 million households.
The Venture Beat article reveals that Togel Betfair is now preparing to launch a social network around the TVG web site to stoke interest in betting on the sport.
It is also building applications to let people bet on horse races from sports bars via their mobile phones. To do this, Betfair will have to add about 50 people to its U.S. staff, currently …