Paradise Lost

[richiebee]

Could it be that only 7 or 8 months ago I had it all?

My Pinnacle Online Wagering account allowed me to bet on tracks all over the
United States,allowed me to transfer funds relatively seamlessly between
my Pinnacle Account and my checking account, and paid a rebate on all my horse
racing wagers. And TVG carried the races from most of these tracks that I was
wagering on. It was all good.

Then came the Kyl Bill and the ban on internet wagering and there went Pinnacle
and Neteller, vanished like the proverbial fart in the wind. I went back to
using my Brisbet account, which offered no rebate. TVG bumbled through the fall
and winter and did not carry races from Gulfstream and Santa Anita; thankfully
they were able to show Fair Grounds racing, which has always been my wintertime
wagering destination.

I have a problem now. I went to bet some races on Brisbet and found that Belmont
is not on the menu, that if I want to bet Pollywood I must do so over the phone.
This was clearly not acceptable and I withdrew all funds.

Look I got spoiled. NYC OTB still reduces the track payoff in return for
allowing you the privelege of sitting with a bunch of alta kokers in less than
pristine surroundings. Belmont and Monmouth are each 50 minutes away, the
Meadowlands 30 minutes and to enter any of these places I need to be wearing
a shirt, pants and shoes.

Man I got spoiled. What\'s better than sitting around in your boxers or a
bathrobe, boiling some weenies on the stove, experimenting with rum and bourbon
mixers in the blender, all while betting on your favorite tracks?

I know NYRA is rolling out their internet wagering operation eventually, but I
don\'t like the idea of NYRA, in its present financial condition, using the
money in my account to meet the payroll or fund overnight purses. (just joking,
I think)

A lot of helpful people have given me ideas on sites which offer wagering. The
truth is that I shouldn\'t have to be signed up with multiple sites or to move
from site to site. The Racing powers that be, in the wake of the internet
wagering ban, have made it more difficult as opposed to easier to access their
product.

The future of wagering is tied to a large degree to internet wagering. If
racing is going to limit access to internet wagering, how can they expect to
maintain their fan base, not to mention expanding it?

Hopefully Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts will be successful in
restoring legal internet wagering in the US as he has stated that he intends to
do, and we can get the offshore entities (who are not affected by these
intertrack disputes) back up in operation.

[BitPlayer]

Richie -

Your \"Paradise\" involved enjoying horse racing without any of your wagering dollars going to pay the costs of running the races.  It\'s hard for me to see how horse racing can survive in such a Paradise.

A couple of thoughts:

I think you should support NYRA.  If you live in New York State (I don\'t), I think you can already access their Internet wagering platform, and NYRA Rewards provides the equivalent of rebates (although probably not as large as you would like).  Even if you live outside NYS, you can bet through NYRA on the phone and benefit from the Rewards program.  Admittedly bankruptcy is a concern, but NYRA has told me the accounts are safe.  I wish they would have gone further and confirmed that the accounts are held in trust, but I\'m willing to believe that their lawyers have done things correctly (although I have reduced the balance I maintain in my account, just in case).

My guess is that the TVG - HRTV (TrackNet) thing will work itself out in due course.  I can\'t see TVG lasting long if things remain as they are.  Their costs are too high; their programming is inferior to the track feed in the eyes of most racing fans; and their wagering menu is in decline.

Nice hit on the Derby Day Pick-3.

[richiebee]

Bit:

   I have been involved with Racing for nearl 35 years. It makes me feel old to
say that, but thats OK because old is better than the alternative.

   You say I should support NYRA. For a ten year period between 1986 - 1996, I
would say that I attended the races live at Aqueduct and Belmont at least 3
days per week,week in, week out and during those years I always tried to catch
at least 10 racing days per year live at Saratoga. The trips to Belmont were
grueling, because in Spring it might take an hour to get home, it might take
two. I think alot about those 2 hour trips which followed a tough photo, bad
trip or awful ride in the last race.

  In 1997 I changed jobs and took on a wife and the 3 day a week live racing
schedule was pretty much done for. Internet wagering became a way to keep close
to the Sport while maintaining my marriage and my job. At the same time, the
facilities and the quality of racing in New York took a turn for the worse, and
to coin an OTB phrase, things did not \"change for the bettor\". NYRA has done
very little to earn my support, and I am sure I am not the only one who feels
this way.

  If Racing had visionaries instead of reactionaries, the entities which allow
the residents of Paradise to play without paying would never have come to be.

  I have said it before. If Racing needs a source of income, whether it be to
renovate aging decrepit facilities or to bankroll drug testing,let them
surcharge the enormous and preposterous auction prices being paid for young
racing stock, some of which as history has shown will never make it to the
races.

[TGJB]

Richie, you can really write. But I have to wonder what the wife thought of the boxers/weenies/bourbon milkshakes/Pinnacle deal.

[miff]

\"NYC OTB still reduces the track payoff in return for
allowing you the privelege of sitting with a bunch of alta kokers in less than
pristine surroundings. Belmont and Monmouth are each 50 minutes away, the
Meadowlands 30 minutes and to enter any of these places I need to be wearing
a shirt, pants and shoes\"



Bee,

OTB has a phone account with no reduced track payoff. You need ch 71 TW cable to watch Jan\'s...err hats.

Mike

[BitPlayer]

Richie -

I apologize if I offended you.  I did not intend my post as an insult, but as a suggestion on how to regain as much of Paradise as pragmatically possible.  I cannot overstate how much I enjoy your posts on this board.  From those posts, your lengthy experience with NY racing was obvious even before you recited the details.

As for NYRA, I know they\'re not perfect, but if you\'re gonna play without leaving the house, you have to have an account with someone, and plowing your money back into NY racing seems preferable to supporting Magna, TVG or OTB.

Respectfully,

BitPlayer

[richiebee]

TGJB:

    The compliment about the writing means quite a bit to me, and prose in my
case may certainly be a substitute for Prozac. As always, I appreciate your
good natured and usually laissez faire hosting of this educational and
entertaining forum.

    As for my wife, I think she knew what she was in for early on. I was
watching a TV race in the living room and as the horses approached the eighth
pole, I grabbed my cat, put him on the table in front of me, and began to scrub
his withers with my hands; as the field approached the wire, I grabbed a pencil
and started smacking the cat on his hindquarters.

    My wife was laughing hysterically. The cat had been through it all before.
And for those of you thinking of calling the ASPCA, my cat died a couple of
years ago at the age of 20. We replaced him with a young cat, but I haven\'t
been able to get him to the races yet.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

lmao,

Gato del Sol

I\'ve never once gotten a home boiled weenie to taste anything near one from the concession stand though. I don\'t think its possible.

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TGJB:
>
>     The compliment about the writing means quite a
> bit to me, and prose in my
> case may certainly be a substitute for Prozac. As
> always, I appreciate your
> good natured and usually laissez faire hosting of
> this educational and
> entertaining forum.
>
>     As for my wife, I think she knew what she was
> in for early on. I was
> watching a TV race in the living room and as the
> horses approached the eighth
> pole, I grabbed my cat, put him on the table in
> front of me, and began to scrub
> his withers with my hands; as the field approached
> the wire, I grabbed a pencil
> and started smacking the cat on his hindquarters.
>
>     My wife was laughing hysterically. The cat had
> been through it all before.
> And for those of you thinking of calling the
> ASPCA, my cat died a couple of
> years ago at the age of 20. We replaced him with a
> young cat, but I haven\'t
> been able to get him to the races yet.

[TGJB]

Richie-- if you didn\'t get cut to pieces, that was a well trained cat.

[marcus]

richiebee - you\'d get a kick out of a Natale family reunion photo of me telling my 1 yo niece on her hobby horse to get to the rail and save ground ...

[magicnight]

Richie doesn\'t mention that the cat was running in bar shoes, so scratching the jock was not really an option.