Youbet Launches Internet Game Site Featuring Real Time Horse Racing Contests
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday January 10, 8:00 am ET
Players win cash prizes based on live odds and payoffs
KingContest.com to offer wide range of skill-based games
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Youbet.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBET) today launched KingContest.com, a new Internet game site where registered contestants can enter skill-based contests for a fee and then compete to win thousands of dollars in cash prizes that are awarded to winners. Horse racing, Youbet's core product, is the focal point of the site's inaugural offering, but the platform has been designed to deliver a wide variety of games and contests that are under development in Youbet's R&D labs.
With fantasy horse racing contests featured at the launch, KingContest expects to lure game lovers, not necessarily racing fans, with the prospect of cash prizes for winners of competitions where the pace of play is established by the actual post times of races being run at featured tracks. Each contest is staged in rounds that require enrollment fees.
Competition at the website goes on literally morning, noon and night as rounds begin when participating tracks open, and close when the last race of the round is run. Players who accumulate the most points -- counted in winnings from fantasy bets -- win the contests. The points reflect the actual tote prices for win, place, show and all exotic pools.
"No one is better at presenting the excitement of horse racing online than we are," said Youbet CEO Charles F. Champion. "By adapting our race presentation technology to appeal to game and contest enthusiasts, we accomplish two objectives: we promote the sport with a young new audience that isn't currently attracted to live or simulcast racing; and we create a channel for a new, highly diversified revenue stream.
"Our horse racing games replicate the rapid-fire pace of our online pari-mutuel product with the expectation that we can convert contestants into active racing fans," Champion said. "This game style, delivered over our technology, appeals to 21-40-year-olds who are disposed to e-delivery channels and who comprise our fastest growing market. So we are optimistic that we can convert many of the game players to pari-mutuel customers.
"Over time, we also hope to work with our venue partners to bring this form of online game excitement trackside through kiosks and various mobile devices," Champion added.
Fast, furious, fun
Champion said that the KingContest.com games being launched today have undergone extensive beta testing to ensure user appeal and to secure the interface between the game site and Youbet.com's account and deposit programs. KingContest players must open a Youbet account from which they withdraw contest fees and receive cash winnings.
The words used most frequently by KingContest beta users were "fast" and "fun." In fact, the pace was "absolutely furious" when rounds and contests neared completion. With race results tallied and posted instantly at the game "Leader Board," contestants and spectators could see who was ahead and by how much. In the heat of battle, players picked horses at multiple tracks and in multiple combinations -- simultaneously -- to improve their chances of beating the odds and winning the most points.
"Playing, even just watching a contest online can be very exciting," said one beta player. "You can actually feel the tension building online as players execute strategies based on their leader board position, post times, odds and combinations like Exactas, Trifectas and Superfectas. It makes you want to keep playing and keep coming back to the site."
Youbet's game plan
KingContest.com is Youbet's first pay-to-play fantasy skill website and the company's first entry in the growing online game and contest market. The platform links Youbet's powerful digital staging technology with the game development expertise it acquired less than a year ago with the purchase of United Tote.
"KingContest is an important step in our evolution as a gaming company," said Champion. "When we bought United Tote, we said that the most appealing asset of the company was its game development capability and the product and revenue diversification potential it afforded. With this launch, we are moving to establish a new business unit that is charged with monetizing this asset in the market."
Games of skill, like the ones that will be presented at KingContest, are at the center of a growing and wildly popular Internet fantasy sports culture, according to Champion.
"This website puts our toe in this market with an offering that emanates from our core line yet has appeal to a much wider audience of game lovers -- players who like to compete against others and who have attributes that make them ideal prospects for pari-mutuel racing products.
"KingContest is the result of an integrated effort by our game development, engineering, online marketing, product presentation and transaction processing groups," Champion said. "In the year ahead, we will add new games to the site and make prize packages more lucrative. Some of our games will be home grown. Others are likely to be offered in partnership with game and contest providers that are attracted to our robust technology and our subscriber database." |
