(“Dad, those all come from the same animal,” Lisa said.
“Right, Lisa, some magical, wonderful animal!” said Homer.)
This is good, good stuff.
Check out New Jersey, the Garden State, not-so-famously known for its large and flat expanses of farmland tended to by no fewer than 40 illegal aliens. This state just keeps on tickin’. Go to the link ...
New Jersey lawmakers drew up a bill that would allow some restaurants and bars to install off-track wagering terminals. This sure beats the at-your-booth jukebox playing old Mariah Carey and Don McLean’s “American Pie” again, again and again.
I’d love to step over the blood from a stab wound and rock down the steps of Tin and Lint in Saratoga Springs. I want to see Los Alamitos on my ticket, maybe a little Mountaineer with my Saranac Pale Ale. Why not?
When you can’t get people to the OTBs, bring the OTBs to the people. I can see it already. “Yes, I’ll have the cheeseburger, fries and $6 on the 4 to win.”
Booze and gambling go together like Bon Jovi and a perm. Just think of the songs Bruce Springsteen could unlock if this bill goes through. It’ll give new meaning to “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”
And look, New Jersey doesn’t refer to OTBs as OTBs: they’re OTWs, an Off-Track Wagering parlor. Who’s got dibs on OTGs?
Anyway, under the current construct the bill calls for 60 licenses, though that number will likely be lower, according to an nj.com story. The beauty of bringing horse racing to a bar or restaurant is like giving the patrons a hypodermic needle of racing to their blood. Tie off a vein and fix that with some Daily Double.
The other beauty is that the facilities are already built, aren’t they? According to the story, the startup costs for an OTW are at minimum $4 million and could be as high as $12. A million saved is a million earned.
I say take out “Golden Tee” and put up a betting window. Do you see “Buck Hunter?” Give it the heave-ho and put up a betting terminal. “Donkey Kong?” Please! Put in a betting terminal. I can already see discounted drinks when you present a betting ticket, a losing one, of course.
The thoroughbred and standardbred horse groups support the measure, and so should you.
It’s about time Keno had some competition.
Brendan O'Meara is the author of "Six Weeks in Saratoga." Follow him on Twitter.
03 Jan 2012 at 07:47 am | #
This was always the way to go, as outlined in my response to the New York City OTB demise. Unfortunately, I’m sure the same powerful forces that stymied the Aqueduct slots for so long (Yonkers raceway boys), have kept this from happening in the New York City area. As soon as they figure out a way to steal as much as they can, I’m sure they will put it in place in Gotham City.
TTT
03 Jan 2012 at 09:45 am | #
B,
To me, the most encouraging sign is that nowhere in that NJ.com link were there indications that they were considering Delaware style sports betting--little more that a trumped up parlay card.
I do wish that the wagering were limited to tracks and OTWs so that racing could get its share, needing all the help it can get since it’s surrounded by slots and table games states.
There is little to no crossover from casino to racetrack, but there would be much more since sports betting also requires actual thinking as opposed to staring.
And as far as competition is concerned, no horseplayer I know hasn’t bet on the NFL. But sports betting as an attraction could more readily create a new racing audience.
NJ may be able to overturn Fed intervention. The bigger obstacle woule be the sanctimonious and hypocritical NFL. The marriage of TV and gambling made the league’s insanely successful bottom lines possible.
03 Jan 2012 at 02:29 pm | #
Happy New Year! B, Preach, TTT and the rest of HRI Nation.
Joisey(as pronounced by a native New Yorker) has become the PROMISED LAND!
Hmmmm, OTB’s in McDonalds would give new meaning to the “Happy Meal”
Call me old fashioned but I like my cellphone to be used for phone calls only, my bar for drinking, my diner for eating, and my horseracing at the racetrack.
In ‘78 I remember listening to Darkness On The Edge Of Town in my car 8 track player, on the way to Belmont. Today all I need is an I-Phone?
Sing it Joisey Bruce, play it again BIG MAN…
On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah Desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving across the Waynesboro County Line
I’ve got the radio on and I’m just killing time
Working all day in my daddy’s garage
Driving all night chasing some mirage
Pretty soon, little girl, I’m gonna take charge
Well the dogs on Main Street howl cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man
And I believe in a promised land
I’ve done my best to live the right way
I get up in the morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak I just wanna explode
Explode, and tear this whole town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Pretty soon, I’ll be itching for something to start
Well the dogs on Main Street howl, cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man
And I believe in a promised land
There’s a dark cloud rising on the desert floor
I’ve packed my bags and I’m headed straight through the storm
It’s gonna be a twister that’ll blow everything down
That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away, the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away, the dreams that break your heart
Blow away, the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted
Well the dogs on Main Street howl, cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man
And I believe in a promised land....
03 Jan 2012 at 03:05 pm | #
Love ya’ Cat, especially when you reference perhaps the greatest--and I know I’m cutting a very wide swathe here--rock n’ roll performer singer-songwriter of all time.
Meanwhile, can’t imagine seeing another live performance without the Big Man.
As a horseplayer, however, I think my all-time favorite is a little gem with a noir sensibility to which all gamblers can relate and a last line that suggests turning the page and starting all over again.
A happy and healthy, TC!
03 Jan 2012 at 03:06 pm | #
Imagine that, I buried the lead so deep that I forgot to mention “Meeting Across the River” at all.
10 Jan 2012 at 04:05 am | #
How will this 1) create new players, and 2) generate significantly more handle from existing ones; especially if people have to line up to use terminals?
What is the projected market for off-track players who don’t /won’t bet over he internet, by phone, or at dedicated OTBs? Is there any real potential for players to socialize and take up space for long durations at such locations? What attraction is there other than, perhaps, to avoid having one’s action tracked?
If NJ really wants to increase handle, IMO, they should enable one-at-a-time partnerships to be formed among resident account holders that distributes tax liability on a winning score to individual partners collectively betting an individual combination.
Such new opportunities for greater financial reward would stimulate increased remote social interaction among partners (as well as recruitment of them). That, my friends, is what will turn the trick away from the track.
Based on JP’s and the Cat’s reaction to Springsteen, my only other suggestion is to hire the Boss as the spokesman for OTWs, and have him perform his own horseplaying jingles that makes betting with Bruce the cool thing to do.