Hilton Group sells operation to online firm

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES -- Youbet.com Inc., operator of an online horse race betting service, said it plans to buy Hilton Group Plc's bingo and off-track-betting business in Argentina for $26 million to enter foreign markets.

The operations are part of Hilton Group's Ladbroke gaming unit. Youbet.com plans to put some of the operations on the Web and "significantly invest" in technology in South America, the Los Angeles-based company said.

Youbet.com, which had $3.77 million in sales in 1999, aims to dominate Internet gambling in the way Amazon.com Inc. dominates online retailing.

Its subscribers can watch and bet on races in real time at U.K.-based Hilton Group's more than 30 U.S. racetracks. It doesn't actually accept bets, instead transmitting wagers to licensed race tracks. Youbet.com had about 14,500 subscribers to its You Bet Network at the end of the fourth quarter.

Hilton Group is the owner of the Hilton hotel chain outside the United States.

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