Betfair buys tvg for $50M

European betting shop Betfair Group Ltd. is entering the United States market with the $50 million purchase of the TVG television network and account wagering company, according to a release issued this afternoon.

Speculation had centered on Louisville-based Churchill Downs Inc. as a potential buyer of TVG, although Churchill officials wouldn't comment on the speculation.

A call to Churchill spokesman Kevin Flanery was not immediately returned today.

TVG was the television home for Churchill's races and was the company's account wagering partner until Churchill started its own account wagering company in 2007.

TVG is being sold by Macrovision Solutions Corp., which had previously announced it wanted to sell TVG after getting it along with the rest of Gemstar-TV Guide.

"We have waited to enter the U.S. market until we had a high quality, and above all, legal product offering, and we believe with this acquisition we have secured those goals," Betfair David Yu, Betfair's CEO said in a statement.

Gerard Cunningham, president of Betfair US also said in the announcement: "We are tremendously excited to be the new owners of TVG and look forward to building upon the worldwide experience of Betfair to help grow the business."

Betfair is an electronic gambling company that touts horse racing as its core offering.

courier-journal.com
Louisville, Kentucky

In layman's terms, what does this mean?

When will USA people be able to sign up, and will this include all of betfair's offerings, or just horses?

PapaParlay said:

In layman's terms, what does this mean?

When will USA people be able to sign up, and will this include all of betfair's offerings, or just horses?

Click to expand...

I think U.S. gov. considers Betfair illegal on-line gambling where as TVG is legal horse betting in certain states. So I guess an illegal betting firm owns a legal betting firm. I guess I have no clue what it means buts its kind of ironic I think.

PapaParlay said:

In layman's terms, what does this mean?

When will USA people be able to sign up, and will this include all of betfair's offerings, or just horses?

Click to expand...

i dont think anyone knows the answer to this yet.... d1g1t

One step at a time, betfair is making all the right moves to open themselves up to the US market if and when the day comes that the industry is regulated.

holy shit this could be great news for horse fans wanting more options...

Should add our STUPID ASS GOVERNMENT considers them illegal where as many places conder them legal. MORE POWER to them.

electronic gambling company that touts horse racing as its core offering."

Is this true?

Any update on instadebit being available for canadians? I seriously want to deposit a chunk in there but it's not worth it with the other methods listed..

also for some reason the http://www.betfair.com/NA/ page isn't working for me.

Yes to Instadebit but not instantly!

Hi kobe:

Instadebit is my top priority. Unfortunately Canada has to wait in line just like every other country that wants a new payment provider in. It's painful to watch for me as well so I completely get where you're coming from...

Good news is it is in the pipeline. Met again with instadebit today. It will happen but I cant say its gonna happen next month or anything like that.

With that being said, there are still a TON of Canucks who have been able to deposit and play on betfair.

I know the methods are a bit difficult right now but the best thing to do is to deposit via a pre-paid mastercard (moneymart), get a Moneybookers account (annoying at first but well worth it in the end - you can ask some of the guys who have an MB account on here. Way better limits than Instadebit. If you're depositing a very big amount, just do a bank transfer, you can call our help desk and let them know it's coming as well (once we get to know you they will sometimes extend credit). The first time will take 2-3 days.

There's also VISA (not Royal or Scotia), I know.

Also if you deposit a large amount, I can lower your commission rate to start. It's all pretty negotiable.

Sorry i cant give you a better answer.

www.betfair.com/NA/ issue...just goto www.betfair.com and use the dropdown menu to goto English Canada. that takes you to the same place.

Later,

Rob

I think congratulations are in order to Betfair. A great price on a decent product with great potential.

Horse racing is not without it's major problems, but gambling in general, has to be considered an underrated commodity.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes on tvg's website or phone betting, along with the operational costs of placing bets through tvg.