Intrastate betting might come to Nevada race books

     Intrastate pari-mutuel wagering among Nevada race books soon may become a reality, pending approval of local bookmakers and state gaming authorities.
      Las Vegas Dissemination Co., at which interstate pari-mutuel bets are processed and sent from Nevada race books to betting pools at tracks nationwide, made the presentation to the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association on Thursday at the Orleans Hotel.
      Odds and payoffs in the intrastate pools would be determined by monies wagered solely in Nevada, separate from the tracks.
      If approved, dog racing from Phoenix Greyhound Park will be the initial track, on a 90-day test basis.
      "It's a great place to start," said Bob Moretti, LVDC vice president. "Phoenix dog racing begins at 7:30 (p.m.) our time and runs 363 nights a year."
      "We're hopeful of getting on the Gaming Control Board's April agenda and being approved in time to start Phoenix dog racing by May 1," said Don Lanners, LVDC director of Nevada operations.
      Approval also is required from the NPMA, but that would seem a foregone conclusion, given the enthusiastic endorsement by NPMA attorney Anthony Cabot.
      "An intrastate pool is an idea whose time has come," Cabot said. "It will give the flexibility to the 52 Nevada pari-mutuel books to present a variety of new and exciting wagers to their race book customers."
      Every type of wager would be available to Nevada intrastate players, from the standard win, place and show bets to the myriad forms of exotic wagering.
      "This gives us an opportunity to offer wagers that aren't offered at the track for every type of racing -- horses, dogs and even jai-alai," Lanners said.
      However, the premise that intrastate pari-mutuel pools in Nevada could be implemented for tracks in California -- whose live TV races have been blacked out in Nevada since Nov. 6 because of a simulcast fees dispute -- was challenged in today's edition of the Daily Racing Form.
      According to legal experts interviewed by DRF industry editor Matt Hegarty, without the consent of the horsemen and tracks on which bets are taken, intrastrate pari-mutuel pools such as those proposed for Nevada would be in violation of the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978.
      "They would need the permission of the sending track and the sending track's horsemen,' said Don Sturgill, a Lexington, Ky.-based lawyer who has extensive knowledge of the Interstate Horse Racing Act.
      "There were some exemptions for Vegas written into the law, but this is not one of them. The horsemen could stop them at any time as a violation of federal law."
      But assuming LVDC and the NPMA eventually reach an agreement with interested tracks, Nevada bettors could have a sizable menu of new wagering opportunities.
      Of particular note would be the proposed daily Nevada $1 Pick-7, in which the proposition would encompass the featured race from seven major tracks.
      -- BETTING PERCENTAGES -- LVDC provided a breakdown of the percentage of betting handle for various types of wagers, based on a sample from March 1996 at Santa Anita (percentage of total handle in parentheses):
      Win-place-show (41.7); exacta (27); trifecta (10.4); Pick-Three (7.8); quinella (6.9); Daily Double (3.2); Pick-Six (2.7); Place Pick-Nine (.03).
      -- LAWSUIT IMMINENT -- Santa Anita officials are still refusing comment on reports the track plans to sue the Thoroughbred Owners of California for failure to allow the simulcasting of its live races to Nevada while negotiations continue between the TOC and the NPMA over simulcast fees.
      However, I have learned that Santa Anita has retained a heavy-hitting Los Angeles law firm, O'Melveny and Myers, to file suit against the TOC, possibly as soon as the coming week.
      -- FREE CONTEST -- The Gold Coast Race Book will put up a $1,000 grand prize in a free handicapping contest Wednesday.
      Contestants must make one selection on each of the last five races at Aqueduct, with the winner to be determined by the largest combined win payoffs, based on $2 bets.
      Price means everything. A bettor who picks one winner at $50 beats a player who hits four winners at $10 each.
      In case of ties, the $1,000 prize will be divided equally.
     
      Jay Richards' horse racing column is published Friday and Sunday.