LOTTO LUCK: Bad luck may have been...
LOTTO LUCK: Bad luck may have been at least a factor in the county losing $1.7 billion by betting wrong on interest rate fluctuations. But some county residents have fared much better in legal gambling. . . . As the California Lottery winds up its 10th year, reports show that local Lotto players have bought $1.65 billion worth of tickets since the October, 1985, start and have pocketed $1.07 billion in winnings--a 65% return.
A SHOE-IN: You get better odds than that at Orange County’s only horse racing venue. “About 82 cents of every dollar bet here is paid back out to bettors,” says Dick Feinberg, general manager of 44-year-old Los Alamitos Race Course. . . . The biggest winner? The track won’t give out names, but Feinberg says one quarter-horse fan recently took home $125,000 on a $2 bet. . . . He picked the order of finish of the top three horses in the 7th and 9th races.
ROAR GONE: Orange County no longer has any club gambling. But from the Roaring ‘20s until the Eisenhower ‘50s, a number of its cities let gambling flourish. Giant gambling ships were anchored off the county’s coast. Seal Beach had the Airport Club, also known as the Quonset Hut Monte Carlo, and one Santa Ana family operated 2,000 slot machines in bars, restaurants, stores and private clubs throughout the county. . . . The end came with the rise of conservative Republicanism after the Korean War.
SELLING ILLUSIONS: Though card clubs and casinos are not legal here, a few companies have made big business out of pretending. One of the biggest is Fantasy Casino. Co-owner Rick Santella says he supplies dealers and tables for cards, craps and roulette for as many as 500 “Vegas nights” a year. Gigs have included a 13-year-old girl’s bat mitzvah and Angels’ pitcher Mark Langston’s Christmas party--”He made his guests sing karaoke to earn more money when they went bust”--and a plethora of corporate events. . . . Christmas is his busiest season, but Santella says the most unusual occasion for a night of gaming was a wedding reception.
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Lot o’ Money
Orange County residents have claimed nearly $600 million in Lotto winnings since 1991. Amounts in millions: 1991: $152.5 1992: $93.5 1993: $103.8 1994: $97.9 1995: $136.2 Source: California State Lottery