Quote:
Originally Posted by ZippyChippy423
For years and years the only betting parimutuel tracks had was WPS and the DD. Why?
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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 .
