By Thomas Chambers
The old adage that before OTBs you had to go to the track to get a bet down on a horse has a huge qualifier attached: legally, that is. Of course, at least for most of the history of horse racing as we know it, it’s always been possible to place bets through a bookie, outside the purview of the track.
Betting off-track has taken two huge leaps in the last 40 years. The first was in the late 1960s when satellite television of racing pictures could be and was beamed to simulcast centers both on- and off-track. In fact, way back in 1968, entrepreneur Merv Griffin had the genius to purchase Teleview Patrol, the nascent satellite service then developing its business of providing racing transmissions to Las Vegas and to the new Off-Track Betting industry. The Griffin Group still owned the service at the time of his death in August 2007.
The second was, you guessed it, the Internet. And especially mass access to broadband Internet speeds. While porn on the internet irritated the people it always irritates, tenets of free speech and expression were basically in place. In the case of gambling, everyone from the state and federal governments to the racing industry itself were befuddled by the capabilities of this new technology.
Of course, European and other foreign visionaries – many of them offshore in the Caribbean – jumped on the World Wide Web wagon and built sites to take any and all bets. Some of them were quite shady, as in not paying off your wins. And as with all gambling in the United States, horse wagering is often at the mercy of politicians or corporations with an agenda. George W. Bush’s minions tried to ban online wagering of any kind midway through his second term – by a quiet attachment on a huge transportation bill – but the horse industry (there’s a lot of great racing in the old red states) and rational members of Congress got it killed. It did become illegal, however, to bet offshore.
We now have what is called Advance Deposit Wagering, which allows many Americans to wager on their computers or via phone. There is a quiltwork of states that allow it or don’t. It’s illegal in Illinois, but nobody here does anything about it. It’s easier to sign up than it used to be, so who has time to worry about the corporate machinations?
The major corporate maneuvering in the past few years was the purchase of Winticket.com by Churchill Downs Inc., which rolled its TwinSpires.com into that system. They then reached an agreement in 2007 with Magna Entertainment’s XpressBet.com to, basically, try to corner the ADW market by bundling the biggest and best tracks in the nation. YouBet.com is another large service. Television Gaming Network, one of the earliest and most successful ADWs, has been struggling lately, though it still has the most customers and takes the most betting handle. It was formed originally through exclusivity agreements with many of the California tracks. But as outfits like Magna and Churchill got their acts together, TVG was strangled out of some of those agreements. Let’s put it this way, instead of showing Magna’s Santa Anita in the winter, TVG was beaming Hawthorne – and with little enthusiasm. In fact, in 2008, as the squabbling heated up, you couldn’t tell the players or tracks and ADWs without a program. Trouble was, the program was also out of date.
TVG has its own cable and satellite channel, TVG, and TrackNet Media, the joint Magna-Churchill venture, owns and operates Horse Racing Television (HRTV). Natch, their availability is not consistent across cable or satellite systems. Also, TVG looks ripe for a buyout by TrackNet.
TwinSpires, XpressBet and YouBet, all licensed out of Oregon, are available in Illinois. TVG is not available here.
The New York Racing Association runs its own service, but only within the state, and there are some other services in the east taking bets from very highly defined territories.
The fan comes in last in these matters, including having Florida signals withheld for a while last year by Florida horsemen is a dispute over rates. Signals for several tracks were even withheld from Las Vegas in late January and much of February as the tracks tried to squeeze more money out of Sin City. They did wait, the nice guys they are, until the World Handicapping Championships were over first.
Obviously, for a player living in the middle of nowhere, online wagering is a godsend. Here in Chicago, it’s a decision to be made. Remember, playing on the computer is one thing, but these services also offer phone wagering. As the Illinois OTBs take 2.5 percent right off the top of every dollar you win, phone wagering becomes a very attractive alternative.
The services I am aware of or play are slightly different. I once had an XpressBet account and tried to rekindle it for this column. But it’s third-party identity verification service – one of the big three credit bureaus – couldn’t verify me so I aborted. I don’t need that noise. I have accounts at YouBet and TwinSpires. TVG is not available here.
Here’s a rundown:
TwinSpires:
* No monthly fees.
* Free video streaming
* One TwinSpires point earned for every dollar bet, except two dollars for wagers at CDI tracks Churchill Downs, Arlington Park or Fairgrounds
YouBet:
* $10.95 per month / $19.95 for unlimited service.
* Extra-ticket items include more than one video feed at a time, more horse statistics, and various levels of race replays.
* One bonus point per dollar wagered
XpressBet:
* No monthly fees.
* Wager $8k per month for three months and you’re a VIP and able to earn bonus points good for conversion into wagering vouchers.
TVG:
* $19.95 per month or 25 cents per wager, no matter the amount, up to $19.95 in a month.
* One point per dollar wagered.
* Points redeemable for vouchers or merchandise.
My preference between TwinSpires and YouBet is TwinSpires. YouBet has a very serviceable platform. They both open video in a new window, so you click back and forth. All video is as you see it at the OTB. But YouBet’s interface is cluttered with a lot of small type, making it difficult to find pertinent information like minutes to post. To wager, yet another small window opens and you progress methodically through your wager. On TwinSpires, you click out of the video to the wager window and everything is laid out in front of you, such as track, race, type of wager and wager amount. They’re using the old WinTicket software, which I always did like. One thing you have to be careful about it betting too much on a race. You don’t “see” your money as readily, so that is a temptation.
One tremendous feature of these services across the board is that they keep a detailed record of your wagering, whether it’s online or by phone. It takes great discipline to keep track of your bets on paper and then do the math to find out how you are doing. With an ADW, you can break out or sort your bet records in a number of ways. They do the computing for you!
I recently took a Saturday and played exclusively at home on the computer. I get TVG via satellite, but because of agreements or restrictions, however you want to term it, TVG was not showing the tracks I was interested in that day. So I was led to discover the really cool video of TwinSpires. Get into video mode, and thumbnails of all tracks it covers run across the bottom, so you just click there to switch tracks. A black theme in the browser window enhances the quality of the picture, and picture size and resolution is adjustable. The system is fast and clean, provided you have a good broadband connection. Between the two services, I should have my tracks covered.
But there is one huge drawback to computer playing at home: The fun of betting along with the gang at the OTB or the track. No “who-do-ya like?” No one to complain to after a tough beat. No talkin’ politics or sports. Like I said, we’re lucky to have all of these opportunities to play, but getting together with the crew is most of the fun to me. So I’m glad I know where to drop a dime to get in a wager. And legally,
On the Triple Crown Trail
There wasn’t much going last week, vis-a-vis the Derby or the Triple Crown. I did mention Dunkirk last week and in the meantime, much of the racing press has gone gaga over him. The racing media is pretty funny, I think. It’s always about the latest sensation – what have you done for me lately? And their Top Whatever lists all start looking the same about now. I wish I could be so sure.
This week, it’s the 63rd running of the Fountain of Youth Stakes (GII) at Gulfstream Park. You’ve got luminaries such as Tim Tam, Kauai King, Spectacular Bid and Thunder Gulch as winners in this race, but this edition looks to be the best since I’ve been playing.
The race is wide-open with a full field of 12 and should be quite bettable. This One’s for Phil is your morning line favorite at 3-1 (nice), with Notonthesamepage right behind at 4-1. Phil had a 30-point improvement in his Beyer Speed Figure in his last race, prompting Andrew Beyer, their inventor, to question in a column if or what substances the delightful Richard Dutrow may have given him. This race will answer a lot of questions. Bee Cee Cee is the morning line longshot at 30-1. The wiseguy horses will be Theregoesjojo (15-1ML) and Quality Road (8-1). Capt. Candyman Can will also take money, he being on the steady improve. Can Beethoven bounce back and improve after a bad post and trip in the Holy Bull?
Who do I like? One thing to remember about these three-year-olds, is that they are very young and still improving and physically maturing. It’s not uncommon to see a big leap forward. There are a lot of big speed figure jumps in the past performances. My measly few bucks will gravitate toward Quality Road, James A. Jerkens’s trainee with John Velazquez riding. I will also wager Taqarub, Kieran McLaughlin’s horse. Why Taqarub? Pick one: Rider Alan Garcia is so hot and so good that I’ve been betting on just about anything he’s riding; the horse began the new year with a nice improvement and a win in the Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct; the jockey-trainer combination is 27 percent successful with a return of $2.01 on every dollar bet; his workouts are quite nice.
Heading west, we have another field of 12 for the Grade 3 The Sham. Sham was a great horse with just one teeny problem; his main adversary was Secretariat. Nevertheless, Sham was impressive in finishing second to Big Red in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
The main contenders here are The Pampelmousse (it’s a restaurant hard by Del Mar) and Ventana. They look tough to beat. The main contender should be Take the Points. Todd Pletcher had him entered in the Fountain of Youth, and one big reason he’s running here was the opportunity to get Garrett Gomez to ride. Pletch’s go-to guy, John Velazquez, is committed to Quality Road in Florida. Mr. Hot Stuff will challenge, as will Tiz True. Also keep an eye on Lifeline.
Stormin’ Normin’
It was nice to see that the reminiscing in tribute to Norm Van Lier last night on Comcast was so right-on accurate. I had the pleasure of calling Stormin’ a friend. Not as tight as some others, but a friend. He was exactly as you have ever seen him. Honest, nice, caring and not afraid to be those things. He’d ask about your family and mean it. His wiring included a “competitive” chip, and most of his stories had that theme, whether is was competing in sports or just to make it in this world. He expected excellence and effort every bit as much as Mr. Jordan. That comes with every great defensive player. He may have scored 8,770 points, but he probably prevented at least 20,000.
Watching the trampoline event in the last Olympics, Norm didn’t dig it because the guy bouncing wasn’t competing against another person, just the tramp. What was the point? He could also fill out a mean NFL confidence pool, once doing it as a favor for a young lady who then won it. He could tell you why a team in any sport was winning or losing a game, deep beneath just the points on the scoreboard. And he was never, ever rude or short with a fan or a tourist looking for an autograph or a picture. Because he was so genuine, he’ll end up a guy we miss a lot more than some others.
And we cannot forget Johnny “Red” Kerr. I understand he was a pretty genuine guy too.
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Thomas Chambers is the Beachwood’s man on the rail. He brings you Track Notes every Friday. You can reach him here.
Posted on February 27, 2009