Published on: 02/23/07
MLB looking into Liberty betting site
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Prospective Braves buyer Liberty Media's ownership of a sports betting-information Web site has drawn the attention of Major League Baseball.
"Our people are looking into it," MLB spokesman Rich Levin told The Journal-Constitution on Thursday. "They are aware of it and are reviewing it."
Liberty last year bought a 51 percent stake in Toronto-based Fun Technologies, whose holdings include a Web site called DonBest.com. The site, which doesn't accept or make wagers, provides gambling lines and extensive picks from "expert" handicappers.
Levin said MLB's "basic rule is that an owner or anybody can't have any direct involvement in any kind of gambling enterprise." He said he did not want to "make a judgment" about whether Liberty's Web site would be found to violate that rule.
If MLB does deem the Web site a problem, it could ask Liberty to divest that business, which is a tiny part of the company's overall holdings, as a condition of being approved as Braves owner.
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said at an investment conference in Colorado that the Web site should not present a problem with MLB.
"It does no more, no less than USA Today or lots of other people who provide much more information in much more detail," Maffei told The Rocky Mountain News after a speech at the "Venture Capital in the Rockies" conference in Beaver Creek, Colo. "I don't see it as an issue."
Steve Greenberg, the investment banker representing Time Warner on the Braves deal, declined comment when asked if he expects the Web site to be an issue with MLB.
Time Warner and Colorado-based Liberty last week agreed on a tax-free stock swap under which Liberty would acquire the Braves. The deal was forwarded to MLB for what is expected to be a lengthy examination; the process typically includes looking at a buyer's businesses. Approval is required from 75 percent of owners.
Issues of ownership ties to gambling-related entities have surfaced twice recently in baseball. MLB blessed an arrangement under which Marian Ilitch, wife of Detroit Tigers owner Michael Ilitch, owns MotorCity Casino in Detroit. And Steve Swindal, a managing general partner of the New York Yankees and son-in-law of principal owner George Steinbrenner, was quoted by the New York Times in December as saying he got permission from baseball commissioner Bud Selig to participate in a group bidding for three New York horse racing tracks, one of which would operate slot machines.
According to a recent press release, the Don Best site "provides subscription services for live odds, major line-move alerts, injury reports, statistical reports and offers customized information-
delivery services."
At the conference, Maffei also addressed speculation Liberty would quickly re-sell the Braves, saying, according to the Rocky Mountain News, that the company intends to be "long-term owners."
The paper reported that he told the gathering of venture capitalists that there are "lots of reasons" to hold on to the team, one being that "you're not going to make a lot of friends" in MLB by quickly flipping it. Also, he noted the IRS would treat the deal more favorably if Liberty keeps the team.
But it was not clear what Maffei meant by "long-term" — the two or three years experts have said Liberty must hold the Braves to preserve the deal's tax-free status, or something significantly longer. He could not be reached for further comment.
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