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Re(4): Old School Betting

Posted on February 21, 2013 at 03:09:33 PM by sr analyst

Yes, it was individual tickets punched by tellers at specialized (by type and amount) bet windows. I believe the accounting was done in the background by machines, though. The name 'American Totalizer' (?) comes to mind ('tote' for short) as the primary supplier of that equipment. Of course, there was at least twenty minutes between games to allow for the betting activity. I always used a telewager girl since you never got shut out - they did not close the mutual windows until the girls had phoned in all their bets.

Re those girls: they worked a specific section and since I always sat in the same section I always had the same girl. If she was a working girl then she was a middle aged working girl and I never knew it. What I heard was that they did away with them because they were holding bets out and making book themselves.

I am the flip side of the original poster - have never used any automated betting machine since I've not attended a live performance in almost thirty years!

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