Lotto excitement still to be found at the track

By Ivan Bigg

Jan. 1, 2009

Do you play the lottery? Then this column is for you. I’m going to tell you how to play a different kind of lottery, one with a kicker.

These are the usual reasons cited for people playing a lottery: (1) They want to win a quick fortune; (2) Tickets only cost a few bucks; (3) Players want to capitalize on luck they feel they have; (4) Buying tickets are quick and easy and require no thinking; (5) It’s fun to dream.

But did you know all of those things apply equally to playing horses these days? And, yes, just like lotteries, payoffs reach into the millions.

Just drop into an off-track betting location near you (see locations below) and put a few bucks on your lucky numbers, just as you do at a lottery kiosk. As many as 25 tracks are televised each day from places like California, Florida, Arizona and other exotic locales. You don’t even have to hang around. You can phone a racing-result line later to see if your tickets made you money.

If big money is your aim, I suggest playing a ticket with three or four different picks to come in a certain order. Picking three horses in the right order is called a triactor; playing four horses in the right order is called a superfecta.

A few weeks ago, I spent $3 predicting the top four finishers in a race — I think the numbers were 4-5-8-1 — and won $1,100. I didn’t even look at a program, just the odds board. Last Sunday, $300,000 was the payoff for a $1 ticket at Santa Anita. And at Hollywood last year, one player spent $6 to win more than $1 million.

Here are the off-track betting locations where you can have fun playing this different kind of lottery:

• Quest Inn

• Pembina Hotel

• Canad Inns Windsor Park

• McPhillips Street Station

• Days Inn on McPhillips

• Club Regent Casino

• Canad Inns Club Regent

• Green Brier Inn (opening soon).

Now for the kicker, here’s what to do to improve your odds of winning way beyond those of a regular lottery: Before you buy your ticket, take a few moments to analyze the body language of horses in the race you like. You can also try looking at the odds for each horse. It takes just a few extra minutes and is a whole lot more fun than just blacking out numbers on a card.