Tracknet makes deal in New Jersey

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has reached an agreement that will allow the account-wagering companies XpressBet and twinspires.com to offer betting on the two tracks it owns and operates, Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands.

The agreement is representative of an emerging standard for contracts between racetracks and account-wagering companies in which the rights to offer wagering are assigned to multiple account-wagering platforms. Last year, wagering on the Monmouth and the Meadowlands was only available through Television Games Network, or TVG, and its sub-licensing partner, Youbet.com, through an agreement that expires at the end of this year.

XpressBet is owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. and twinspires.com is owned by Churchill Downs Inc. The two companies formed a partnership last year called Tracknet that buys and sells simulcast signals, and the agreement with the New Jersey authority was brokered by Tracknet officials. The two companies also jointly own the television channel HorseRacing TV.

Earlier this month, the authority reached at an agreement with TVG that gave the network the in-home television broadcast rights to its races. The agreement with XpressBet and twinspires.com, which expires at the end of 2008, will allow both account-wagering companies to offer live streaming video of the races on their Internet sites, but HorseRacing TV will not be allowed to show Monmouth or the Meadowlands live race broadcasts.