Youbet Chairman Discusses Launch of Youbet.net

Chuck Champion, president and CEO of Youbet.com discussed the launch of a new Web site, Youbet.net, Wednesday afternoon during the annual convention of the Association of Racing Commissioners International. Youbet.net will be a learning site for new players to learn more about pari-mutuel wagering.

Champion talked about Youbet.net during a panel discussion entitled "Adapting New Technology to Patron Needs" at the RCI convention being held at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort near Albuquerque, N.M.

"We know the sport is far more difficult to understand that most gaming opportunities," Champion said. "It requires people wanting to learn it to basically take money out of their pockets and play it. 'Dot Net' is an opportunity to play for fun and win for real.

"The poker industry has done this for two or three years and built a tremendous business in the United States despite the fact it is illegal and even though there are federal acts against that activity," he said of some online poker sites.

"'Dot Net' is an opportunity for people to come to the Web site, Youbet.com, and play for points as opposed to playing for money," Champion said. "There will be a lot of educational vignettes and graphics and a lot of text explaining things like 'what is an exacta,' 'what is a trifecta,' and so on."

In discussing the future of advance deposit wagering sites such as Youbet.com, Champion said the largest growing segment of his market is with 21-30 year olds and that 53% of Youbet customers are under the age of 50.