Youbet.com (UBET) disclosed Tuesday it provided betting records of certain o
its customers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents.
The company, which allows members to watch and bet on horse races online,
said it received a search warrant for the records at its Woodland Hills,
Calif., headquarters on Thursday.
Neither Youbet.com nor any of its employees are targets of the investigation
and the company hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, according to a company
statement provided to Dow Jones Newswires.
Youbet.com didn't disclose the names of the individuals targeted by the
investigation, nor did the company disclose the matters being investigated.
The investigation is being run by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Vegas,
the company said.
Oregon Review Led to D.C. Online Ban
By John Scheinman
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, October 5, 2007; Page E06
Horse racing fans in the District whose Internet advanced deposit wagering accounts were shut off last week can thank the racing commission in Oregon.
Commission officials recently reviewed state criminal codes and discovered it is illegal to accept or place bets on horse races within the District. As the regulator of a multi-jurisdictional "hub" for interstate horse racing bets made online, the commission advised advanced deposit wagering companies (ADWs) they were at risk of breaking the law.
"At the time the ADWs applied for their licenses in the past, they were not aware the criminal code said they can't take parimutuel bets in Washington, D.C.," said Randy Evers, the new executive director of the Oregon Racing Commission. "We contacted the attorneys for the ADWs that were taking bets in Washington, D.C., and agreed they should not take bets from there."
Washington horseplayers found themselves unable to place bets via the Internet on Sept. 26 through at least two major ADW companies, Youbet.com and America Tab.
"Last week, I was betting Belmont [Park], and I wasn't betting much," said Mike Soper, 56, a restaurant chef who lives near Dupont Circle. "I'm betting early in the card, maybe the third or fourth race, and when I got back on for the ninth I couldn't bet. In the middle of the day, they decided this was illegal and they couldn't take bets."
The District criminal code states that it is unlawful to "place a bet or wager, accept a bet or wager, gamble or make books or pools on the result of any athletic contest." The code lists "trotting or running race of horses" among regulated events.
Youbet.com President Charles Champion was not available for comment. A spokesman for the publicly traded company wrote in an e-mail that, "The District . . . is a comparatively small market for Youbet in terms of handle and revenue, [and] was the only jurisdiction affected by [the commission] review."
The spokesman declined to reveal the number of accounts held by District residents, or the amount of money they wagered. Results released in June by the Oregon Racing Commission showed the five advanced account wagering operators conducting business through that state handled $268.2 million dollars in the first quarter of the year.
Regulation of online wagering on horse racing is a murky field. While the federal Wire Act expressly prevents the use of a "wire communication" for the purpose of interstate wagering, Congress amended the Interstate Horseracing Act seven years ago to permit it despite opposition from the Justice Department.
Oregon became the default hub for bets placed online when it passed laws favorable to the hosting of multi-jurisdictional wagering nearly 10 years ago.
On Sept. 19, Arizona made it illegal for residents to bet on horse racing anywhere outside of a state racetrack or off-track betting site. Youbet.com and other ADWs closed their Arizona accounts. According to a story in the industry magazine the Blood-Horse, Youbet.com sent e-mails to its Arizona customers calling the new law "clearly unlawful, unconstitutional and protectionist."
Youbet.com faces a lawsuit by Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Va., and state horsemen for operating in the state and taking wagers on Colonial races without a license.
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