Satellite Betting Plan Could Be a Boon to Del Mar Track

The Del Mar Race Track could be the big winner under legislation approved Friday by the state Senate that would allow gamblers to bet on horse racing by satellite as they watch the races live on big-screen television at tracks and fairgrounds in Southern California.

A bill by Sen. Ken Maddy, a Fresno Republican, would allow San Diego County bettors to go to Del Mar nearly year-round when that seaside track is idle and place wagers on races held at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos, the three major Los Angeles area tracks.

Bettors at the Los Angeles and Orange County tracks and other fairgrounds around Southern California, meanwhile, could gamble on the Del Mar races, with a percentage of the money bet going to Del Mar in the form of higher purses.

Could Become Major Track

Because higher purses usually attract better horses and more interesting races, many industry insiders believe the legislation could be just what Del Mar needs to break into the major leagues of thoroughbred racing.

“Del Mar could be the leader a few years down the road,” said Cliff Goodrich, vice president and general manager of the Santa Anita track. He was referring to the size of the daily prize money offered by the tracks.

The legislation will probably be amended in the Assembly, Maddy conceded. To be approved and signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian, the bill will have to satisfy not only the tracks but also fairgrounds associations, horsemen, labor unions and state budget analysts, Maddy said.

Though several of those parties still have concerns about the bill, Maddy’s promise to address the problems in the Assembly kept debate to a minimum Friday before the Senate approved the bill on a 27-5 vote.

The only opposition came from Sen. Jim Ellis, a San Diego Republican who complained that the bill would provide an unneeded expansion of gambling.

“Next, we’ll be setting up wagering devices in the schools and hospitals and everyplace else,” Ellis said. “If people want to bet or gamble, they can find a place to do that. To expand it all over the state I just don’t think is a logical thing to do at this time.”

But Maddy said horse racing in California has been a “corrupt-free industry for the last 50 years.” He said his bill would generate jobs for clerks who take bets at the tracks and would provide badly needed money for improvements at the fairgrounds.

In its present form, Maddy’s bill represents a major victory for Del Mar, not only because it could help the picturesque North County track, but also because it wouldn’t hurt.

Whenever such “off-track” betting has been considered in the past, influential Santa Anita and Hollywood Park interests have pushed provisions that were aimed at keeping those tracks secure but also would have kept Del Mar in its place among the second tier of tracks.

In 1983, for example, the Legislature considered a bill that would have legalized betting parlors. That bill included a proviso to protect the Los Angeles tracks from competition by prohibiting the parlors within 45 miles of any race track--except Del Mar. The Los Angeles tracks argued that a ban on parlors within 45 miles of Del Mar would cover all of urban San Diego County and deprive the other tracks of much-needed revenue.

The entire bill died amid outcries against increased gambling in the state.

Cap Put on Purses

Then, when Maddy’s bill was introduced earlier this year, it included a limit on the size of purses at Del Mar because Hollywood Park officials reportedly feared that the San Diego County track, if it were allowed to dramatically increase the size of its purses, would surpass the Inglewood facility in stature and start to take away its business.

But Maddy has since amended his bill to take away some of the revenue that would have gone to Del Mar while still allowing the San Diego County track to pay any amount it can in purses.

Apparently, the additional $350 million expected to be wagered at the satellite facilities will provide enough money in purses and commissions to the tracks and fairgrounds to satisfy almost every interest.

Of that amount, about 82% would be returned in winnings to bettors; some would be siphoned off in the form of license fees to the state. But even with those deductions, as much as $50 million in new money could be available in purses to horsemen and in commissions to the track owners.

2% of Every Dollar

Del Mar would receive 2% of every dollar bet at the fairgrounds on races televised more than 200 days a year from out-of-town tracks. Del Mar officials expect about 1,500 people to bet $500,000 daily at the fairgrounds, generating as much as $2 million a year in commissions. The fairgrounds will also get to keep the money earned from parking, admission and concessions.

That money has already been earmarked for construction of a 15,000-seat grandstand for the fairgrounds and race track, with expansion possible to 20,000 seats, said Roger Vitaich, general manager of the Del Mar Fair Board. The existing 9,600-seat grandstand is scheduled to be torn down in the fall of 1989 and be replaced by the new, $45-million structure the next spring, Vitaich said.

The effect of out-of-town betting on Del Mar races is more difficult to gauge because the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which leases the race track from the fairgrounds and manages the 43-day racing meet, does not know exactly how Los Angeles area patrons will react to the change.

Joe Harper, the nonprofit club’s executive director, said Los Angeles area residents account for as much as 40% of the track’s attendance, and those bettors tend to wager more than local spectators do.

Loss Predictions Dismissed

Recent surveys done by the tracks indicate that Del Mar can expect a 26% decline in attendance and a 33% drop in on-site betting as Los Angeles area bettors opt to place their wagers at their local tracks instead. But Del Mar officials clearly believe they will make up the loss and then some.

Harper said Los Angeles bettors who have never been to Del Mar will bet on the Del Mar races via satellite at their local tracks, and many of those who now travel to Del Mar will bet even more through the satellite hook-up.

“We’re looking at a balance that will tilt in our favor,” Harper said. “The guy that might drive down here two times last year, he’s only going to drive down once, but he might bet five times on us at Santa Anita.”

Harper also hopes that local patrons will fill the gaps in attendance created by the loss of gamblers commuting from Los Angeles.

“My gut feeling is that our attendance won’t be off that much,” he said. “We have a facility that people like to come to and it’s crowded. We reached a comfortable capacity, and then our attendance leveled off. I have a feeling that that gap will once again be filled up because we will continue our growth.”

With a share of the money bet via satellite going to purses to augment money bet locally, Del Mar’s stakes are likely to grow dramatically.

Santa Anita’s Goodrich said studies by his company estimate that Del Mar purses will increase from the current $208,000 a day to about $260,000, a jump of more than 20%.

“Del Mar is going to benefit more than anybody,” Goodrich said.

Competition Not Feared

But Goodrich said he doesn’t fear competition from Del Mar because Santa Anita’s races are run from the day after Christmas until early April and Del Mar runs in the summer. Hollywood Park, which runs from April until just before Del Mar opens in July, has more to lose.

As Del Mar purses grow, industry sources explain, more of the prestigious thoroughbreds that now run in Hollywood and rest at Del Mar might reverse their itineraries, boosting Del Mar’s attraction at the expense of Hollywood Park.

Hollywood Park officials did not return calls from The Times. But Maddy said the track’s owners were satisfied with an amendment to his bill that allowed the Pomona Fairgrounds to keep a percentage of the money bet there on Del Mar’s races that normally would be distributed as prize money at Del Mar.

Another provision of the bill bans betting on Del Mar races at the Los Alamitos track during racing there sponsored by the Orange County Fair.

Together, the amendments take away about $19,000 a day from Del Mar purses.