Take me to an OTB that’s like it was 20 years ago.

[ZippyChippy423]

One that is busy all week long like it use to be. Do any still exist? Someone once told me the only place would be a race book in Las Vegas but they have sports betting mixed in so it’s not the same. The busiest OTB’s I have visited over the last 25 years have been: Atlantic City casinos, Mohegan Sun Casino Racebook, Plainridge Park Foxboro Mass, Bradley Teletrack Windsor Locks Ct, BestBet Jacksonville Florida, Manhattan OTB, Albany NY OTB. BTW all of these OTB’s remain open except for Manhattan ones. Attendance as you would expect is drastically down from 2 decades ago. Maybe somewhere in the country an OTB still thrives?

[Zman179]

Originally Posted by ZippyChippy423

One that is busy all week long like it use to be. Do any still exist? Someone once told me the only place would be a race book in Las Vegas but they have sports betting mixed in so it’s not the same. The busiest OTB’s I have visited over the last 25 years have been: Atlantic City casinos, Mohegan Sun Casino Racebook, Plainridge Park Foxboro Mass, Bradley Teletrack Windsor Locks Ct, BestBet Jacksonville Florida, Manhattan OTB, Albany NY OTB. BTW all of these OTB’s remain open except for Manhattan ones. Attendance as you would expect is drastically down from 2 decades ago. Maybe somewhere in the country an OTB still thrives?

The Meadowlands has always done very well with simulcasting, even before sports wagering began there.

[mountainman]

At mountaineer simulcast, we are reduced now to 12 or 15 smartest guys in the room, with about half that number of followers spread out among their infallible feudal lords. It's a dwindling, but fascinating colony to observe, as some of the infallible lords loudly berate their sycophants after hard beats.

One guy got barred for threatening a teller after getting shut out. And he has this deep, booming voice that makes the whole room shake.

When you play just one track, it sure enlivens the time between races.

I might just blog about that sub-culture

[AskinHaskin]

Originally Posted by ZippyChippy423

One that is busy all week long like it use to be. Do any still exist? Someone once told me the only place would be a race book in Las Vegas but they have sports betting mixed in so it’s not the same. The busiest OTB’s I have visited over the last 25 years have been: Atlantic City casinos, Mohegan Sun Casino Racebook, Plainridge Park Foxboro Mass, Bradley Teletrack Windsor Locks Ct, BestBet Jacksonville Florida, Manhattan OTB, Albany NY OTB. BTW all of these OTB’s remain open except for Manhattan ones. Attendance as you would expect is drastically down from 2 decades ago. Maybe somewhere in the country an OTB still thrives?

I wonder if the Potawatomi Casino in central Milwaukee merits a mention. Tiz the only OTB in a city of 600,000, centrally located, and in a place just 80 miles from Arlington Park (where otherwise-novices might have caught the bug). Now surely Saturday afternoons are more busy than Tuesday mornings, but it's pretty lively.

I've been to Windsor Locks, CT a couple of times, and it became a vacuum as soon as New York racing was over, even though it was just after 4pm, and California tracks had only just begun. I am certain Potawatomi is more consistently busy than that example.

[ZippyChippy423]

Sub-culture pretty much sums up the types of people you can find in any OTB across America. It’s funny how a lot of these people have the same mannerisms and lingo no matter what OTB you are in. Someone really should right a book...I find it very interesting. I once had a conversation with an OTB manager and he said most of the patrons were middle to upper class with a lot of discretionary income. He was talking about the degens that visit 7 days a week. I guess it makes sense...how can anyone go to the track that often unless they had a lot of money.

[Tom]

I remember OTBs around here.
No video, just the audio.
All the entries on poster boards on the wall.
Manager would come out and make scratched with a red pen, and mark results as the races finished.

We would hear that voice saying "The flag is up......" and everyone would gather in front of the wall of entries and watch them like a TV monitor.

My buddy and I would stand right at the wall and face the crown - some would get visibly shaken with us looking at them!

[Zman179]

Originally Posted by mountainman

At mountaineer simulcast, we are reduced now to 12 or 15 smartest guys in the room, with about half that number of followers spread out among their infallible feudal lords. It's a dwindling, but fascinating colony to observe, as some of the infallible lords loudly berate their sycophants after hard beats.

One guy got barred for threatening a teller after getting shut out. And he has this deep, booming voice that makes the whole room shake.

When you play just one track, it sure enlivens the time between races.

I might just blog about that sub-culture

Reading the first paragraph, for a second I thought I was reading National Geographic.

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by Zman179

Reading the first paragraph, for a second I thought I was reading National Geographic.

But the women all have tops on.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by mountainman

But the women all have tops on.

Women, at a track simulcast center? I demand PROOF.

[PaceAdvantage]

once betting from home became an option, what possible reason would exist for me to ever step foot into an OTB ever again?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

once betting from home became an option, what possible reason would exist for me to ever step foot into an OTB ever again?

At the tracks and the OTBs, the winning horseplayers collect their profits anonymously...whereas the online winners leave behind a paper trail which must be dealt with at considerable expense...lest that lead to some sleepless nights.

[lex]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Women, at a track simulcast center? I demand PROOF.

I'm proof but I kept my top on.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

At the tracks and the OTBs, the winning horseplayers collect their profits anonymously...whereas the online winners leave behind a paper trail which must be dealt with at considerable expense.

Even if there was going to be a paper trail, there was always a 10 percenter available to make sure that paper trail did not include you.

Personally, I miss neighborhood and restaurant OTBs (at least the handful of nice ones around Queens) In my old neighborhood I used to run into people I grew up with and sometimes didn't see in decades. It was nice.

Plus, even though the tracks might argue they recaptured that handle with phone accounts and now online betting, they are 100% wrong. A lot of those players went to OTB to socialize and bet. They weren't hardcore fans. If they were hardcore they already had an OTB phone account and didn't bother going to the OTB other than to make deposits and withdrawals like a bank branch. Yet many of those OTBs were stick packed and there were some big bettors going straight to the windows eating the surcharge.

Having a lot of them is not a viable business strategy, but I'm still pretty convinced that a handful around the city would raise handle and more than pay for themselves.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

Even if there was going to be a paper trail, there was always a 10 percenter available to make sure that paper trail did not include you.

Personally, I miss neighborhood and restaurant OTBs (at least the handful of nice ones around Queens) In my old neighborhood I used to run into people I grew up with and sometimes didn't see in decades. It was nice.

Plus, even though the tracks might argue they recaptured that handle with phone accounts and now online betting, they are 100% wrong. A lot of those players went to OTB to socialize and bet. They weren't hardcore fans. If they were hardcore they already had an OTB phone account and didn't bother going to the OTB other than to make deposits and withdrawals like a bank branch. Yet many of those OTBs were stick packed and there were some big bettors going straight to the windows eating the surcharge.

Having a lot of them is not a viable business strategy, but I'm still pretty convinced that a handful around the city would raise handle and more than pay for themselves.

I may be wrong about this...but my opinion is that the vast majority of the bettors wager a lot less online than they would if they were at a "live" betting outlet. When you bet online, you are limited to the funds that you hold in your ADW account...and my guess is that the vast majority of the bettors would much rather carry that money in their pockets.

[dlivery]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I may be wrong about this...but my opinion is that the vast majority of the bettors wager a lot less online than they would if they were at a "live" betting outlet. When you bet online, you are limited to the funds that you hold in your ADW account...and my guess is that the vast majority of the bettors would much rather carry that money in their pockets.

Or just in the back seat of the car