Online Gambling Hurts Horses

February 27, 2008

It seems that online gambling and wagering has begun to hurt the horse racing industry. There are plenty of places where you can go to place a bet online for your favorite horse or for any other kind of sport that you enjoy betting on. When you are looking at the offshore gambling that is now going on, especially in a place like Costa Rica, the numbers get extremely high.

There are more than 200 online gambling enterprises located in Costa Rica, and many of their clients come from the United States. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has done little to curb the kind of online gambling that goes on in Costa Rica, especially since they don�t really go against the horseracing wagers.

The US government might not be happy about the amount of money flowing out in regards to online gambling, but the Costa Rican government is doing everything in their power to keep it just the way it is. Not only do they not care, but they make it very easy by charging low fees and encouraging people to move here to start online gambling sites.

It can cost you anywhere from $250,000 on up to open an online gambling site, but in Costa Rica you can get one for less than $10,000. The amount of money being wagered in Costa Rica is easily in the billions, and the New York Racing Association says that they have lost more than $50 million in annual handle when relationships were severed a few years ago.

The horses need the money that they have lost to Costa Rica, and those millions could help with purses and with upkeep. Not to mention the fact that the owners and handlers wouldn�t mind a larger slice of the pie as well.

 

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