Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Horse Bettors & Slots Gamblers Co-Exist at Gulfstream Park
Posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007
Caught this bit from the Miami Herald.
Horse-racing fans are trying to co-exist with the new crowds at Gulfstream Park, where slots have attracted a whole new breed of gamblers.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@MiamiHerald.com
Adam Piacenza believes in luck. And good trainers and jockeys and stables with a long track record of winning horses.
But don’t ask Piacenza, 80, if he believes in the new slot machines at Gulfstream Park, his home-away-from-home every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday during the winter horse-racing season.
”It used to be the sport of kings,” Piacenza lamented last week as he handicapped the day’s first race from a sunny seat with a view of the new paddock at the center of the massive gambling complex. “Now it’s the sport of average people, I guess.”
Since the casinos opened in recent weeks, slot machines have brought big crowds to Gulfstream and the old Hollywood Greyhound Track, which has been refashioned into a Mardi Gras-themed slots casino with little reference to the greyhounds on the outdoor track.
The new visitors have created something of a culture clash at Gulfstream, where the regulars who put a lot of research into their bets see the slot machine players as mindless gamblers, intent on a solitary activity.
”I wouldn’t put a red cent in a slot machine,” said Piacenza, shaking his head.
Even as he and other regulars waited — racing forms in hand — for the first horses to parade around the paddock last week, a bus dropped off 114 seniors from Margate. With walkers, canes and comfortable shoes, they stood in line to process their memberships in the casino’s rewards club, the Good Luck Player’s Club. click here for full story
Gulfstream Park is the host of the Florida Derby - major prep race for the Kentucky Derby 2007. Barbaro, the winner of the Florida Derby in 2006 won the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Click here for free Gulfstream, Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby picks - not stock market tips.
"Horse Bettors & Slots Gamblers Co-Exist at Gulfstream Park" was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Gulfstream Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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