- PlayboyRacingUSA.com Slated for Third Quarter Launch -
NEW YORK and WYOMISSING, Pa., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Playboy.com, Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA), today
announced it has signed an agreement with Penn National Gaming, Inc.
(Nasdaq: PENN) to develop PlayboyRacingUSA.com, an online pari-mutuel wagering
site for horseracing. It is expected to begin operations in the third quarter
of 2001.
Under the terms of the agreement, Penn National will be responsible for
the service's development, day-to-day operations and overhead, including
hardware and software, management and customer support. Playboy will provide
marketing, branding, user interface, design and content. The site will be
licensed and operated in Pennsylvania. Penn National, through its wholly
owned subsidiary, eBetUSA.com, Inc., has formulated a vertical marketing
strategy that builds upon its existing authorization for account wagering.
PlayboyRacingUSA.com will use the expertise of Penn National, one of North
America's leading on- and off-track horseracing operators, to offer a wide
variety of pari-mutuel wagering on horseraces in North America. Bettors from
around the world will have access, through PlayboyRacing.com, to most of the
great racing events originating out of the United States and Canada. Penn
National, through its Pennsylvania Horseracing Commission and Pennsylvania
Harness Racing Commission approved operation, gives Playboy the opportunity to
launch their site with live racing and wagering on nearly thirty racetracks.
The site will have safeguards to prevent accepting wagering from states and
jurisdictions where online pari-mutuel wagering is prohibited.
Lawrence R. Lux, President of Playboy.com, said, "The site will bring
Playboy's unique brand of sexiness, excitement and fun to online horseracing.
Our live Playboy Betting Bunny, Deanna, who consumers will already know from
PlayboySportsBook.com, will serve as the site's interactive hostess. In
addition, PlayboyRacingUSA.com will offer a range of distinctive features,
including real-time odds, scratches, race results, video event coverage and
commentary."
"PlayboyRacingUSA.com is our second online gaming initiative and the first
that will be available to U.S. citizens due to the acceptance of horseracing
wagering in many U.S. states," said Christie Hefner, Chairman of Playboy.com.
"This allows us to fully leverage Playboy.com's 4.4 million monthly unique
visitors which combined with Penn National's operational expertise will allow
us to create a significant high-margin revenue addition to Playboy.com."
Peter M. Carlino, Chief Executive Officer of Penn National, said, "By
teaming with Playboy we are creating an exciting growth opportunity that
leverages Penn National's substantial pari-mutuel expertise, industry presence
and systems, with Playboy's tremendous brand and marketing strengths,
including its large and demographically appropriate online and offline
audiences. We look forward to a close working partnership and the formal
launch of the service in the third quarter."
Since 1993, industry sources have reported steady annual increases in
total on-track and off-track handle (gross wagers) for the U.S. thoroughbred
racing industry. Total handle in the U.S. alone was $14.2 billion in the year
2000, an increase of 3.6% over the prior year. Penn National estimates that
online pari-mutuel betting amounted to only a few percentage points of total
handle in 2000. However, given the rapid growth in online access and the
availability of online betting in approximately 37 U.S. states, plus a fast-
developing international market, the growth of online pari-mutuel wagering is
expected to dramatically outpace the industry for several years.
In February, Playboy announced separate plans to launch
PlayboySportsBook.com -- which will provide fixed odds wagering on various
world-wide sporting events -- and said that it expects to add casino games to
its online gaming initiatives in the coming year.
About Playboy.com
Playboy.com; a wholly owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
(NYSE: PLA), an international multimedia entertainment company; is the #1
lifestyle and entertainment destination Web site for men. Playboy.com
operates Playboy-branded Web sites targeting the entertainment and lifestyle
interests of young men, including: Playboy.com ( http://www.playboy.com ), an
advertising and e-commerce-supported Web site that offers a range of
entertainment, information and e-commerce; Playboy Cyber Club
( http://cyber.playboy.com ), a members-only subscription site featuring
premium Playboy content and exclusive online events; the Playboy Store
( http://www.playboystore.com ), which sells Playboy-branded products; and
Playboy Auctions (http://auctions.playboy.com), which auctions Playboy-branded
merchandise and admission to exclusive Playboy events, and allows fans to
auction their own Playboy memorabilia and collectibles. Playboy.com also
operates SpiceTV.com ( http://www.SpiceTV.com ), a site featuring premium
adult entertainment under the Spice brand.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as to expectations,
beliefs, plans, objectives and future financial performance, and assumptions
underlying or concerning the foregoing. Such forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes
to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.
The following are some of the important factors that could cause actual
results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-
looking statements: (1) government actions or initiatives, including (a)
attempts to limit or otherwise regulate the sale of adult-oriented materials,
including print, video and online materials or businesses such as casino
gaming, (b) regulation of the advertisement of tobacco products, or (c)
substantive changes in postal regulations or rates, (2) further increases in
paper prices, (3) changes in distribution technology and/or unforeseen delays
in the implementation of such technology by the cable and satellite industries
that might affect the company's plans and assumptions regarding carriage of
its program services, (4) increased competition for advertisers from other
publications and media or any significant decrease in spending by advertisers
generally or with respect to the adult male market, (5) increased competition
for transponders and channel space, and any decline in the company's access
to, and acceptance by, cable and DTH systems, (6) the effects of the
consolidation taking place nationally in the single-copy magazine distribution
system, (7) marketing issues facing direct marketing stamp sheet agents, (8)
new competition in the adult cable television market, (9) uncertainty of
market acceptance of the Internet as a medium for information, entertainment,
e-commerce and advertising, an increasingly competitive environment for
advertising sales, the impact of competition from other content and
merchandise providers, as well as the Company's reliance on third parties for
technology and distribution for its online business, and (10) potential
adverse effects of unresolved Year 2000 problems including external key
suppliers.
About Penn National
Penn National has been a leader in development and operation of racetracks
in the U.S. At the same time, Penn National has been on the leading edge of
technology development in the pari-mutuel industry. Penn National's
groundbreaking achievements include being the first telephone account wagering
company in the U.S., and the first company to simulcast its races to other
jurisdictions for patrons to wager. In November of 2000, Penn National Gaming
became one of the first major U.S. racing companies to launch an on-line
wagering platform across the Internet at its ebetusa.com website. Penn
National owns and operates two Mississippi casinos, the Casino Magic hotel,
casino, golf resort and marina in Bay St. Louis, and the Boomtown Biloxi
casino in Biloxi as well as three racetracks and eleven off-track wagering
(OTW) facilities located in Pennsylvania (two tracks and eleven OTWs) and West
Virginia (one track). The West Virginia track, Charles Town Races, presently
features 1,974 gaming machines that will soon be increased to 2,000. Penn
National is also currently in a merger agreement with CRC Holdings, Inc. where
Penn National will be the surviving parent corporation owning the Casino Rouge
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a management contract for the operation of a
casino complex north of Toronto, Canada.
In addition to historical facts or statements of current condition, this
press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. You may identify some of these forward-looking statements by
the use of words in the statements such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect,"
"project," "intend," "plan," "believe" or words and terms of similar meaning.
The Company describes certain of these risks and uncertainties in its filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on
Form 10-K, its most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its Current
Reports on Form 8-K. These risks and uncertainties could cause the Company's
actual results and experience to differ materially from anticipated results
and expectations expressed in any forward-looking statements. Given these
risks and uncertainties, any or all forward-looking statements may prove to be
incorrect. Therefore, you should not rely on any such factors or forward-
looking statements. Furthermore, the Company does not intend (and is not
obligated) to update publicly any forward-looking statements. The cautionary
advice in this paragraph is permitted by the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995.
SOURCE Playboy.com
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Related links:
http://www.playboy.com
CONTACT:
Investors, Martha Lindeman, 312-373-2430, or
Leah Karliner, 212-261-5000 ext. 3165, both for Playboy
Enterprises, Inc., or Robert Ippolito, Chief Financial Officer of
Penn National Gaming, Inc., 610-373-2400, or Joseph N. Jaffoni of
Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated, 212-835-8500, or penn@jcir.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: To view a screen shot of PlayboyRacingUSA.com,
go to http://www.playboy.com/racingUSA
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