St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 142

MONDAY, APRIL 1,1996 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 7BP 6BP ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1996 FRED FAUST MINDING BUSINESS Fairmount Bets On Internet To Attract Racing Fans Ngltcapc: Fairmount Rate Track Home Paije ijD i fl Qj i- Fairmount Park Racetrack Tf wy t9 Minute? ffi phe vr-azyf exchange handicapping tips. Santa Anita in California (http:www.san-taanita.com) is a leader among tracks in using the Net, he said. Fairmount, like most tracks, is fighting an uphill battle against competition from casinos.

Part of a big package of changes this season is a major upgrade Dhad to have a commercial with 'http' on it, like everybody else. I didn't really know what it meant!" joked Brian Zander, general manager of Fairmount Park. The 70-year-old track opened another thoroughbred season this weekend, and it's sporting a brand new Web site: http:www.fairmountpark.com It may seem like just a gimmick, but Zander explained the logic behind putting a racetrack on the Internet: "This business, unlike casinos, is very information-dependent." That's an interesting difference. Think about all the track patrons that mm IT i jHaOTInto? Thoroughbred info. I I fftfy Entries and Results I Fairmount History I i Fairmount Info.

Racing Schedule i fljffi Off-Track Betting vjairmount Simulcast! EXPERIENCED STOCKBROKERS FISH FOR WHALES, NOT MINNOWSI If you catch 1,000 minnows, all you have Is a bucket full offish, but If you catch a single whale, your rewards will pay for the whole voyage. Sell our proven proprietary research and syndicate products to existing "big ticker" Institutional customers, and. earn better returns for your high net-worth clients at the same time. For a confidential discussion call Joseph Ancona 314-726-4333 or 800-279-4330 Pauli Company Incorporated Institutional Brokers Market Makers Investment Bankers Fairmount Park Now is the pore over the pages of the Racing Form as they prepare to bet. There's nothing similar in a casino.

The Net offers endless possibilities for posting data on the horses, the jockeys and the trainers. Fairmount's home page is not real slick, and much of it's still under construction. But the possibilities are exciting. Zander said his site eventually will have a chat room, so online fans can to enhance jctivi- now so call today. 863-2220 the learning and since vou onlv 1 -CJ 'ear class earn your in the food service.

Zander hired Greg Perez, the owner of Painted Plates, as supervising chef of the three track restaurants: the Top of the Turf, the Black Stallion Buffet and the First Turn cafe. Perez, seeing that more than just the food needed help, in turn recruited Phoenix Consulting Services to work on staff training, food and beverage accounting and coordination. "We're installing a professional atmosphere that wasn't here before," said Phoenix's George Mahe. Also new is the appearance of Miller Brewing Co. as the sponsor of a series of races on 14 Tuesdays throughout the season.

Miller will pay for a $10,000 purse on each of the special races. In return, Miller gets product promotions at the track and on Fairmount's closed-circuit TV, which is simulcast nationally. "With Anheuser-Busch here, it's hard to crack the sports market in St. Louis," Zander said. A-B used to sponsor big purses at Fairmount, but Zander said the brewery has diverted marketing money from horse racing into other sports.

As painters and cleaners were busy with final preparations Friday, Zander said the competitive edge for tracks lies in the social aspect of the experience. Business people who want to talk or families that want to visit have the leisure to do so, he said, unlike the atmosphere of a casino. ONLY IN LAS VEGAS: We recently placed a bet at what is probably the world's only drive-through sports book. Called Sports on the Run, it's part of the Fiesta Casino in North Las Vegas. The setup is just like a bank drive-in, pneumatic tubes and all.

The only difference is a row of overhead TV monitors that show odds on the day's games. There's not nearly enough room to display all the betting lines that are shown in a normal sports book. So information on a bet like ours for the Cardinals to win the World Series must be requested through the intercom. After that, it's very efficient. You put your money in the cannister, with an I.D.

to prove your age, and send it through the tube. The betting slip comes back the same way. George Maloof Fiesta's president, said the casino spent "well over $500,000" to build and equip Sports on the Run. It opened in September for football season, but Maloof said the action on other sports has been unbelievable. The service is especially popular at hinchtime, he said.

It hasn't cannibal- Many coniflinTLthe epslsfglvave a master's of Jinp, does a busy rfsojrialfl thejime tp earn that MBA? Fontb1rtf jijgge pTIONS'ggrarn hasiis wer. The OPTIONS two-year progrjm isijQlotF approach to learning designed especially for wor adults. 1 In the OPTIONS program yoii'Ufind: Fairmount's Internet page has ized business at Fiesta's indoors book. Maloof said the casino's sports handle the total amount wagered is up. Sports books hold about 4 percent of the handle, he said, making them less profitable for the casino than slots or table games.

Casino operators hope that sports bettors will engage in other forms of wagering once they're inside the casino. To lure his drive-through patrons inside, Maloof requires that winning sports slips be redeemed inside. "There's always a decision," he said. "So we'll get half those people inside anyway." Fiesta opened in November 1994. It competes with the Texas Gambling Hall and Hotel, which Station Casinos owner of Station Casino St.

Charles opened last summer. It's not surprising that Sports on the Run looks and functions so much like a bank drive-through. Maloof's family used to own the second-largest bank in New Mexico. NO SLOTS FOR THOMPSON: John Thompson, legendary coach of the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team, has a passion for slot machines. But he has decided to withdraw his application for a Nevada gaming license.

Thompson had planned to buy a 10 percent stake in the company that has the concession for slots at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. That company is run by Michael Gaughan, a veteran Las Vegas casino operator and a 20 percent owner of the Casino Queen. Gaughan and Thompson are old pals. Thompson visited the Casino Queen the first week it opened in 1993, when Gaughan was managing partner. Gaughan's son Brendan is a guard tot the Hoyas.

i. II several options for racing fans. But the recent plan to cut Thompson in on the airport slot business didn't go over well with administrators at Georgetown. "Our position is that it is inappropriate for an active Georgetown University coach to have investments in the gaming industry," said the school's president, The Rev. Leo O'Donovan, according to an Associated Press story.

The NCAA wasn't thrilled about the idea either. The AP quoted NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey saying it would be "ill-advised for anyone connected to college sports to be involved, even peripherally, with gambling interests." Before giving up the licensing effort, Thompson emphasized the distinction between airport slots which was all he wanted a piece of and other casino operations such as bookmaking. He also said, correctly, that very few blacks have ownership interests in gambling operations. That angle struck a sympathetic chord with one Washington Post writer, who wrote that black youngsters need more examples of blacks earning money in areas other than sports and show business. Another Washington Post writer, however, blasted Thompson, saying that he had complained for years about newspapers that publish the betting lines on sporting events.

Gaughan told the AP that Thompson is a regular slot player at Gaughan's Gold Coast casino in Las Vegas. "I've got 1,000 little old ladies out there who know him by his first name," Gaughan said. "They talk slot talk, which one's ready to hit, that kind of thing. He's an entirely differ-I eniperson herewV Instructors who are business professionals in the fields they teach Jj MHU Cumculumwith a focus on practical kVai hcaaoni Laptop computers "errvironmerit Classes meet one night a week reeis- ZZ sched- ter once you'll have your complete two ule, which is convenient inTSHmnga ties. Classes are starting Fonfbonne Fontbonne is a Clayton-based liberal arts college which also offers both bachelor's and master's degrees in dayi evening and Saturday formats.

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