Exotic betting in horse racing, why the long wait?
 

For years and years the only betting parimutuel tracks had was WPS and the DD. Why?

Things were great until they weren't. When they weren't, they added new items to attract new players.

Mo Pools, Mo Money

What is the profile of the new bettor they are trying to attract with the new roulette wager at Santa Anita...?

The same people that play the " moron " wheel at the casino and no not the roulette wheel.

I may be wrong but wasn't it time consuming to compute the payoffs before technology improved? I've seen old programs where the DD pool closed 10 minutes before the 1st race. I know tracks like Oaklawn and Santa Anita were trying to protect the players from themselves or so they thought.

There were extensive limitations on technology.


I have read a bit about how Caliente did the 5-10 (the prototype for the Pick Six) in the 1950's. Essentially they did it all by hand, placing tickets in baskets based on what horses were listed on them, and then narrowing the number of baskets and resorting after each race. They had ten or 15 employees working on the 5-10 exclusively.


Computers didn't start replacing totalisator machines (which were essentially mechanical adding machines linked together with wires and solenoids) until the mid-1960's. So anything more complicated than a daily double was basically impossible until then.


Further, computerized betting terminals didn't happen until my lifetime- the first one I saw was what I now know was an American Totalizator TM-300, in 1978 at Hollywood Park. Without computerized betting terminals, every combination needed to be printed on a separate ticket. Which led to stories like the one Andy Beyer told about the teller at Hialeah who patiently punched out 200 trifecta combinations for him, one by one. Hope nobody was in line behind him!!!!


Once the TM-300 came on line, it was only a couple of years before Marje Everett revived the 5-10, with the computers, as the Pick Six. And we were off and running.

I love looking at pictures of the old mechanical totes.. amazing machinery.


https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/histor...JuliusMain.php

Tote
 

Absolutely incredible!

Riveting question

The wagers offering followed the same historical progression as purse money. In the early days the purse offerings was winner-take-all. But, as the racing of fields of horses came to predominate, a second prize came to be offered. Gradually, third and fourth prizes were added and occasionally fifth.

The same historical progression was followed for wagers, with the bets in early (two-horse) races being simply to win and modern bets being placed on the first three horses (win, place, and show). From private bets, wagering was extended in the 19th century to bookmaking. Later in that century, betting was taken over worldwide by the racetrack managements in the form of the pari-mutuel. An important innovation in pari-mutuel betting came in the 1920s with the development of the <I>totalizator, a mechanical device[/I] for issuing and recording betting tickets. Modern totalizators, usually computers, calculate betting pools and current odds on each horse and flash these figures to the public at regular intervals. They may also display race results, payoff amounts, running times, and other information. Increasingly sophisticated equipment has encouraged introduction of a variety of combination bets, such as the daily double , exacta, or perfecta , quinella , pick six, and all others .

When I started playing, you had to go to separate windows to bet W,P or S, or DD. They had a WP window and WPS window. Each window had a single denomination, ie, $2W, $5P, etc. Technology back then was not very advanced.
Why, the only major thing that had been done nationwide was.......LAND ON THE MOON! :lol:

Here's even more history of totes and a lot of old pictures..

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/

Mainly Julius/AutoTote

What game are you referring to? Where do you come up with this B.S.?
I've been in this game for 50 years and was playing Triples and Exactas in NY when I started. The triples were paying like Supers do today. In fact, even a track like Bowie that operated in the Winter had those type of bets that offered some phenomenal returns!

So where have you been?

I am fairly sure there were no Trifectas in 1969.

Probably '84 or '85 first time I ever saw a trifecta offered. It was offered on a race they piped in from the NE. I even remember the winner of the race Waquat, or something like that. A fairly accomplished race horse, if I remember correctly. So whenever s/he was winning in Jersey or NY was first time I ever even heard of it. The next year LGA offered a $3 tri on races with 8 or more entries. It wasn't long before you could bet it in 5 horse fields.