The Money Trail

[RainMan]

How does money change hands between small Racetracks/OTBs and the host track? I was thinking about places like Mound OTB in La and the Ebro racebook in Fl. where there is very little handle. Say you wonder in on your luckiest day and bet a couple of bucks on a Pick 6 or Super High 5 that hits for several hundred thousand dollars. ( I remember this sort of thing happened on BC day in S. Dakota serveral yrs. ago.)

Can you just walk back up to the window and cash your ticket or is there a delay. I can't imagine smallish types of places being able to issue a check of that size or having that amount of cash on hand.

At the other end of the spectrum - you walk into a small place and wager $2 on a horse to show at some obscure track say Portland Meadows that pays $3. It is the only money bet on that track all day from the location you are at. How is that actual money transferred between locations.

I figure everything is somehow computerized but I got to thinking about the Pick Six scandal of 2001 and a recent event where there was human error involved in a NY Pick 5 and wondered how the books are actually balanced in the world of commingling.

Thanks In Advance

[bofkentucky]

State law will handle how much cash on hand/escrow an OTB must provide

The tote providers aggregate and settle with their clients and the other tote providers, kind of like the ACH clearinghouse between banks.

You'll note that the announcement yesterday that NYRA was buying 49% of United Tote does not include UT's Settlement business.

[Cholly]

Originally Posted by bofkentucky

State law will handle how much cash on hand/escrow an OTB must provide

Didn’t the Oaklawn OTB get caught short on funds and unable to pay all the winning tickets it had sold on Smarty Jones in the 2004 Kentucky Derby?

My memory is that Smarty Jones had become a local favorite after wintering in Hot Springs and sweeping the Oaklawn stakes series for 3YO’s that year. So on Derby Day the locals were pushing it through the windows with both hands. The OTB had not anticipated the amount of action Smarty Jones would draw, and when he galloped at 4-1, there was not enough cash on hand to pay everyone that day.

[JustRalph]

I know somebody on this board who went to cash out at a track at the end of the night and they didn’t have enough cash and he had to wait around to have someone who was called in to write a check………

Love that story

[MJC922]

My stepdad (recently deceased) was a manager of several OTBs in the 70s-80s. There were a few times that I recall one of the guys that owned a local restaurant but was a good handicapper would come in and start firing. He hit some big tickets, exactas and what not, my stepdad would have to go to the bank and grab extra money to pay him. My stepdad would always tell me nobody wins at that game, every day after closing he had to count up the money, every day they (the OTB branch) made money according to him. Years later I went to playing full time and had documented winning years for the better part of a decade so from time to time he would still say nobody wins, I'd just smile and think to myself, umm yea nobody wins at OTB.

[JohnGalt1]

I won a Bay Meadows pick six at the Sahara sports book in Vegas and after the last race when I went to collect. they told me to come back the next day because the supervisor had gone home.

Fortunately, it was the beginning of my vacation.

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt1

I won a Bay Meadows pick six at the Sahara sports book in Vegas and after the last race when I went to collect. they told me to come back the next day because the supervisor had gone home.

Fortunately, it was the beginning of my vacation.

Wouldn't that be a good way to get a room comped?