LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A racing fan with a hot tip on tonight's card at Louisville Downs but too lazy or unable to get to the track can still place his bet, thanks to an innovative telephone waging system.
The harness track inaugurated the Call-A-Bet system Monday, thus becoming the first track in the nation to accept bets by phone.
'If we get a night with a lot of snow this room will be very, very busy,' said mutuel manager Sherman Jetton, looking out at a room filled with consoles and TV-like screens where Call-A-Bet wagers are accepted and recorded for security.
Downs owner William H. King, who innovated the $3 bet last year, developed the patented Call-A-Bet system and hopes to market it to other tracks.
Any bettor with a Kentucky address and a $50 cash account set up in advance can place a Call-A-Bet wager. Credit isn't extended by the harness track.
The track accepts bets by phone from noon to 6:30 p.m. EST daily but won't begin accepting wagers by phone during its nightly racing card until next summer after all the bugs are worked out of the electronic system.
One of the first bets went like this: the bettor called the track and identified himself by account number only.
After checking the computer system, clerk Richard E. Smith, 25, of Louisville, asked the bettor to provide his confirming code name. Then the bettor -- drawing on his $50 cash account at the track -- placed $3 win bets on each of Monday night's 10 races.
Smith read back each bet, told the bettor he had $20 left to wager and the call ended with the clerk identifying himself only as clerk No. 22. No names were mentioned and no cash passed hands.
Smith said the phone bets he took during the first two hours Call-A-Bet operated ranged from $10 to $90. Most were betting the track's trifecta, perfecta and daily double wagers.
One of the few first-day problems involved bettors who tried to bet money from checks sent to the track but not yet cleared by a bank, Jetton said.
As initially set up, all accounts will be re-adjusted once nightly to reflect winning and losing bets. By next summer the track hopes to update Call-A-Bet accounts after each race, thus allowing a bettor to tap his winnings by phone for his next bet.
In conjunction with the Call-A-Bet system, the track has been providing nightly broadcasts of its racing card on Louisville's cable television system, which also lists the racing entries, scratches, odds and track conditions throughout the day for stay-at-home Call-A-Bet bettors.
