Atlantic City: Handicapping contest @ Borgata on 3/17

[joeydb]

Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up for any who live in the region. $5000 top prize, 3 tracks, win bet only.

You do have to sign up in person. I'm in.

Details here: http://www.theborgata.com/play/promo...ing-tournament

[joeydb]

There is a little irony here in that the Borgata (currently the top casino in AC), who makes 99% of their money on things other than horse racing, is reaching out to horseplayers by having a tournament. They have advertised it in mailings and on the radio.

Meanwhile, across the bridge in PA, Parx only advertises their casino - you wouldn't even know that they have a track at all - even though Parx Racing (formerly Philly Park) has the rare distinction of being a year round racing racing facility!

It was mentioned on another thread here somewhere that the tracks actually want to keep the takeout high so that PA racing will fail, they can get rid of the tracks and the associated purse subsidies for which the slots were supposedly approved in the first place. I'm now inclined to agree with that theory.

Anyway, supporting tournaments like these is one admittedly small way to show that we horseplayers are still out here, and willing to reward those who value us, in the form of increased business to the appropriate venue.

[-BT-]

thanks for sharing Joey.

i think its an awesome idea, personally i never really thought of the idea that those places (AC casinos) would even want to put something like this together. Unfortunately their timing is kind of bad IMO, St. Patrick's Day, aka i'm busy :/

-bt-

[Powderfinger]

I am planning to attend. You can find the rules here:
http://www.theborgata.com/assets/pdf...ping-rules.pdf
As you can see, it is a pure "Win bet" tournament, I think most are Win/Place. I also noticed that there is no limit on the payout of a bet. I believe most limit it to something like 25-1 so a player who's been churning winning bets all day doesn't get beat by a 99-1 shot on the last race. Another thing is that there are no "mandatory" races, I believe; they simply list the tracks you can play (in January it was Tampa, Gulfstream and Aqueduct). I have never played this or any one of these contests before. I've been down the Borgata OTB once and it is rather small. The rules state that you must make your bet on one of the eight machines (no pari-mutuel clerks allowed). I am wonderring how 200 people are going to be placing their bets at the last minute on only eight machines. I guess I'll find out.

[jenroypa]

They have a ballroom next to the normal racebook. They will open that up for the tournament.. They usually do it for Breeders , Kent. Derby, etc. THere are no tellers in there, just 2 rows of machines ( more than 8). Good Luck with tourney- I am playing at delaware park this weekend. If I have any luck I may try this. Heard that Bally's has or is opening a new race book and Revel also has a nice book planned. Guess now that slots arent the dominating factor it once was, other houses are looking to get back into this- especially with the slim chance they get fed approval for sports betting...

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by jenroypa

They have a ballroom next to the normal racebook. They will open that up for the tournament.. They usually do it for Breeders , Kent. Derby, etc. THere are no tellers in there, just 2 rows of machines ( more than 8). Good Luck with tourney- I am playing at delaware park this weekend. If I have any luck I may try this. Heard that Bally's has or is opening a new race book and Revel also has a nice book planned. Guess now that slots arent the dominating factor it once was, other houses are looking to get back into this- especially with the slim chance they get fed approval for sports betting...

I hope that Revel does open a nice racebook - I was looking for info on it but didn't find anything.

Same to you guys - good luck. This should be fun.