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) First Online Horse Race Handicapping College Opens
With the opening of www.HorseRaceHandicappingCollege.com, now for the first time professional handicappers have decided to do something to help change the fortunes of struggling horse racing fans. Statistics show with alarming consistency that 98% of all players betting on horse racing lose money every day at race tracks across the U.S. and abroad. All of that is about to change for both the casual and everyday horse player. . More>> - (
) 888 sees sports betting by early next year
Online gaming firm 888.com should have the first element of its new sports betting offering in place by early next year and is also lining up its next acquisition, its CEO told Reuters on Tuesday.888 is tipped by analysts to be close to announcing a tie up with Rank's Blue Square Web site, to offer bets on soccer matches, horse racing and other sports for the first time.
"We expect to launch (sports betting) in the first country by the end of this year or the beginning of next," Gigi Levy told Reuters on the sidelines of the European i-Gaming conference.
"The UK is our biggest market but we also have Seville," he added, saying the deal with the sportsbook provider would be for more than a year.
Having seen takeover talks with gambling group Ladbrokes come to nothing due to worries of retrospective prosecution by U.S authorities, 888 has said it is now looking to be a predator rather than prey for larger rivals. More>>
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) QLD: QTIS Free; First for Atherton; Racing Calendar
Due to the impact the current equine influenza (EI) crisis is having on the entire racing and breeding industries, the Board of Queensland Racing Limited (QRL) has taken the decision to provide free entry into the Queensland Thoroughbred Investment Scheme (QTIS) for 2007 nominations for 2006 Foals. QRL will refund those payments already processed and nominators will be required to fill in the applicable application forms and return to QRL by 1 November 2007. This is a saving to nominators in the vicinity of $1M. Transferred Rockhampton Meeting The Rockhampton Jockey Club race meeting scheduled for Monday 1 October 2007 has been transferred to Saturday 29 September 2007, to fill the void left by the abandoned Doomben meeting. TAB Racing in Atherton Due to the cancellation of racing in the South-East corner of the State, QRL and Sky Channel have taken the decision to broadcast the Atherton Cup meeting on Saturday 29 September 2007. UNiTAB will also cover the meeting, meaning punters will be able to bet via the TAB on Atherton for the first time. More>> - (
) Ministers agree on horse flu vaccine plans
Federal Agricultural Minister Peter McGauran says the latest batch of vaccines for horse flu to arrive in Australia will be used to try to further protect the racing industry.Mr McGauran and ministers from three states met this afternoon to discuss how the 130,000 doses should be distributed.
About two thirds of the doses will go to horses in New South Wales, with the rest going to Queensland and Victoria.
Mr McGauran says the shipment will be a big boost to the racing industry, but there is a still a long way to go in fighting the disease.
"You can't be certain that we can contain and eradicate the disease, but we're not giving up on it just yet," he said.
"We are mindful that you must also have a policy of restoring racing and competition horses to their full use as soon as possible. More>>