Online casino looking to tap into Facebook generation

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- As reported by money.cnn.com: "If your favorite book happens to be Seabiscuit, you already know the answer to the following question: What are the three legal forms of online
  gambling in the United States?

The Federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, passed in 2006, put the kibosh on all kinds of online gambling, with the exception of fantasy sports, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing. It actually wasn't the betting that was outlawed, but the transfer of money from a bank to an online gambling site. In any event, for online betting houses in the U.S., the party was over -- sort of.

Online gambling in the United States still goes on -- billions of dollars every year -- it just happens via offshore outfits and offshore accounts. Strictly speaking, in ain't legal, but when you have a feeling about a big football game, or you have a poker itch to scratch, well, you'll find a way to scratch it..."

"That is exactly what U.K.-based Betfair, one of the world's largest Internet gambling companies, is betting on. But rather than wait for all forms of gambling to get the green light, it's making its initial push in the U.S. via horseracing. "We want to bring the Facebook generation to the track," says Gerard Cunningham, who heads up Betfair's U.S. operations..."

"Cunningham is currently staffing up in Silicon Valley. The plan is to build a technical team that can combine that television property with a brawnier website, which can stream live horse races to viewers and add all the social media bells and whistles, including Twitter feeds, chat and blogging -- to make the horse-racing experience more akin to watching an episode of "Lost" on Hulu..."