Interbets.com was a licensed US racebook operated by the Catskill Off-Track Betting Corporation, which itself is a public benefit corporation originally created by New York State in 1976.
Pros
Licensed in the USA Caters specifically to customers in New York Backed by a reputable horse racing organization Clean and intuitive interfaceCons
Unclear on which states other than New York are accepted Not many advanced handicapping featuresAlthough Interbets.com was primarily intended for residents of New York, it did accept customers from some other states in which online horse wagering is legal. You could see evidence of this emphasis in certain features such as the ability to wager at OTB locations in-person using your Interbets account, but overall this site functioned just as well for out-of-staters as it did for New Yorkers.
Speaking of which, wagers placed through InterBets were exempted from the NYS surcharge. Customers could also request a “no surcharge” account to have that benefit applied to wagers placed via phone or at OTB locations.
Interbets Deposit Bonus And Promo Code
Interbets hosted a surprisingly diverse array of contests and promotions despite being a niche site focused primarily on the New York market. New customers were often greeted with welcome bonuses while existing customers could take advantage of cashback rewards, free and paid handicapping contests, random giveaways, and more.
New customer bonuses at Interbets were released sporadically and you had to keep your eyes open to spot them. This was not like most horse racing sites that offer bonuses all year long; the Interbets bonus was only offered at various times throughout the year with a unique bonus code.
The Interbets cashback program kicked in whenever you wagered $2,000 or more in any single month. For every $1 you wagered, you earned 1 Rewards Point. Once you reached 2,000 Rewards Points, Interbets would give you a cashback reward for that month. The more points you earned each month, the higher your cashback percentage.
The variety in promotions was nice, but I did find it a bit off-putting that they did not clearly explain all promotions on the website. It seemed that Interbets was a little disorganized in this manner. Rather than scheduling promotions in advance and explaining them on the website, they released new promos randomly.
Interbets.com Horse Racing Betting
Once you had an account, you could use two widgets on the left side of the screen to view upcoming races or to browse a full list of tracks. You could also add individual tracks to your favorites list and save that for quick-viewing any time. They also had handy filters that you could use to view the top pools and carryovers to see where the most betting money was on any given day.
Selecting a track from any menu opened the bet pad with a list of the day’s races, the horses expected to run in each race, and all betting options. The bet pad was where you spent the majority of your time on Interbets as it was full of information including horse and jockey information, race length, purse, pool totals, wagering options and minutes to post. You could cycle through the various races by selecting among the numbers at the top of the bet pad.
As a US-based and licensed betting site, Interbets.com was required to have agreements with every track on which it accepted wagers. Prior to its closure, Interbets had deals in place with most major race tracks in the United States as well as tracks in Canada and abroad. All racing pools were commingled with local tracks, which meant you were paid at true track odds on all winning wagers.
All the same bets that you could place in person were available at the Interbets website and all were easy to place. The betting interface made it easy to switch between win-place bets and the various exotics, as well as key and box your bets. All you needed to do was choose your horse, select the type of bet you wished to place, and then choose an amount to wager.
123racing Pick6
Interbets was one of the only ADWs we've encountered that supported the (now-defunct) 123racing Pick6 wager. This wager allowed you to compete against handicappers around the world in a new take on the old Pick6 bet. In the 123racing wager, you made a Pick6 bet like normal as you attempted to predict the winner of every race.
What made the 123racing wager different is your picks also earned points based on their win, place and show results as if you had placed a $2 wager on each horse. For example, if you picked a horse that takes second place, you earned points for that horse based on the place and show payouts.
Here’s how that looked in an example bet:
Let’s say in Race 3, you chose horse number 1 and he ended up finishing in second place. In that case, you would have earned a sum of points equal to the $2 payout on place and show bets. That would work out to 6.40 points in this race based on the above payouts.
After you made your picks and created a nickname, you could then watch for your name on the national leaderboard that was displayed on-screen at tracks, on betting terminals, and online. If you earned more points than your peers, you earned the top payout for that day’s total jackpot.
One other thing that made the 123racing wager different is you could have horses that miss and still win. The national jackpot was based on total points earned, not necessarily on racing results. It was obviously ideal to get every pick right, but you could still win the jackpot if your other horses earned enough points to beat the competition.
Other Ways to Bet
Interbets.com also accepted telephone betting, but the New York surcharge (5-6%) applied unless you had a “no surcharge” account with at least $300 in it. You could contact Interbets for more information about having your wagering account upgraded to no surcharge if you planned on submitting bets via phone frequently.
You could also place mobile bets with the official Interbets mobile app. The mobile app was available for Android and iOS.
Live streaming video was supported as well. In fact, Interbets had one of the strongest live streaming products on the market with support for up to 3 video screens that allowed you to watch multiple races simultaneously, all in real time.
Interbets Horse Racing Betting Screenshots
Interbets Accepted States
Interbets made it clear that the site is designed primarily for players from New York State. You can see this in the promotions they frequently ran in conjunction with local tracks / OTB facilities and in references made throughout the site. However, Interbets did accept customers from other states.
The frustrating thing was that Interbets did not make it clear which other states were accepted. A customer support representative told me they only accepted customers from states that allow online racing betting and in which InterBets had agreements with local race tracks.
I asked for clarification, and they explained that their accepted states changed from time to time, so they did not maintain a static list of accepted/restricted states.
Interbets Deposit Methods
You could fund your Interbets betting account with real money via any of the following deposit options:
| Method | Fee | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Cash at an OTB facility | N/A | N/A |
| PayNearMe | $3.99 | N/A |
| Check or Money Order | N/A | N/A |
| ACH | $1.00 | N/A |
| Instant OTB ACH Transfer | $4.50 | N/A |
| Credit Card | 3.5% | $200 for new accounts, $5,000 per month for established accounts |
Interbets.com Racebook Customer Service
I sent an e-mail to customer service in order to clarify the list of states from which Interbets accepted customers. Someone from customer support responded to me exactly five minutes later with a personal answer to my question.
Customer support was unable to provide a full list of states from which Interbets accepted customers, but I was impressed with the quickness of their replies throughout our e-mail exchange. Whoever I spoke to was professional, courteous, and prompt.
Expert Opinion: Was Interbets Legit?
Interbets was a legitimate advance deposit wagering operator (ADW) and only operated in states where legally permitted. Its parent company, the Catskills Off-Track Betting Corporation, has been in operation since 1976 and raises funds for the New York horse racing industry.
Looking beyond its legal status, Interbets was a solid but not outstanding horse racing betting site. It provided convenient access to pari-mutuel wagering, but there were better, more advanced ADWs available to fans around the US. InterBets' legitimacy was confirmed when it counted most: during its closure, InterBets kept customer balances intact, paid everything owed to users, and offered to transfer accounts to Suffolk OTB's online wagering platform.
Mike Murphy is the founder of BettingUSA.com and has over 20 years of experience in the legal gambling industry. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry.