Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Racetrack and Casino and Youbet.com, Inc. are
joining forces to help build the online segment of the track’s pari-mutuel
wagering business. The unique multi-year marketing partnership breaks new
ground for both companies as a major thoroughbred race track will begin
using an independent online wagering source to pro-actively and aggressively
build a broader following for its horse racing content. “We believe we can
grow our business by leveraging our content in the online channel,” said
Mark Midland, Vice President of Racing Operations for Harrah’s Louisiana
Downs. “Youbet is where the largest share of the online market is
congregating to watch and wager on horse racing. So it makes a lot of sense
for us to use their channel to target handle growth from new, young and
active racing fans from all over the country. We’re excited about the
prospects.”
“We’ve said all along that Youbet is a conduit to growth markets for tracks
that want to seize the opportunity to mine our customer base for new and
sustainable sources of handle,” said Youbet CEO Charles F. Champion. “We’re
delighted to have the opportunity to prove the point by putting our online
marketing expertise to work for a highly respected content provider like
Harrah’s Louisiana Downs.
“With this agreement, Youbet will be taking Louisiana Downs content and
presenting it to customers not as a passive broadcast option,” Champion
continued, “but rather as a powerful, fully integrated marketing proposition
that offers a true horse racing experience with handicapping, wagering, live
broadcasts, instant replays and attractive player rewards.”
The new marketing arrangement makes Youbet.com the official account wagering
provider for Louisiana Downs, a designation that the Harrah’s facility will
promote aggressively. Track patrons will be encouraged to sign-up for Youbet
accounts through on-track signage and videos, ads in daily racing programs,
point-of-sale promotions and online programs staged from the track’s own
website.
For its part, Youbet will promote the Bossier City oval’s racing cards to
its growing database of account wagering customers with double Youbet
Advantage(TM) points for wagers placed on races every Thursday and Friday at
the Harrah’s track this year and in 2007. The points can be redeemed for
prizes ranging from large screen TVs to trips to sporting events such as the
Kentucky Derby, The Masters, the NCAA Final Four and, for high volume
players, cash.
In addition, Youbet will feature Louisiana Downs’ content in targeted
customer e-mails and mobile phone text messages. Youbet will deploy
marketing resources to help promote Louisiana Downs’ on-track business, and
the two companies intend to produce a series of online handicapping contests
with cash prizes culminating on Super Derby Day, the track’s marquee annual
racing event.
About Youbet
Youbet.com is a diversified provider of technology and pari-mutuel horse
racing content for consumers through Internet and telephone platforms and is
a leading supplier of totalizator systems, terminals and other pari-mutuel
wagering services and systems to the pari-mutuel industry through its United
Tote subsidiary. Youbet.com’s International Racing Group subsidiary is the
only pari-mutuel rebate provider to be licensed by a U.S. racing regulatory
jurisdiction.
Through its website, Youbet offers members commingled track pools, live
audio/video, up-to-the-minute track information, real-time wagering
information, phone wagering, race replays, simultaneous multi-race viewing
and value-added handicapping products.
Youbet.com’s Players Trust(SM) revolutionized advanced deposit wagering by
placing player deposits in the custody of a major U.S. financial
institution. The Youbet Advantage(TM) Player Rewards Program is the only
player incentive program of its kind in the U.S. pari-mutuel market; and
Youbet’s play-for-points racing education website — www.Youbet.net — is
helping to attract new fans to racing. Youbet.com is an official online
wagering platform of Churchill Downs Incorporated and the Kentucky Derby and
is the exclusive provider of horse racing content for CBS SportsLine.com.
More information on Youbet.com can be found at www.youbet.com.
