Track races to boost bets through technology. (Media & Technology).Los Alamitos Los Alamitos (lôs ăləmē`təs, lŏs), city (1990 pop. 11,676), Orange co., NE of Long Beach, S Calif., in a suburban area; inc. 1960. Los Alamitos Racetrack and U.S. military installations are nearby. Race Course is gambling on a dialing-for-dollars strategy. The 51-year-old quarter-horse racetrack now gets 5 percent of its bets from phone- and Internet-based systems, which Gov. Gray Davis approved for California in January. The track is banking on broader exposure from broadcast races to boost that revenue even further. In an investment key to luring Santa Monica-based Television Games Network, which broadcasts horse racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with over cable and satellite TV to about 8 million households, the track has spent more than $125,000 to construct an outdoor TV studio. Los Alamitos races started airing April 19 as part of a plan to replace revenues lost as a result of dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. attendance. "We believe the broad exposure of our product will repay us many times over," said Jeff True, director of marketing and simulcasting at Los Alamitos. Bettors can now play the ponies using the Television Games Network Web site, or phone an 800 number to place their wager. The network also has licensed its betting system to Woodland Hills-based Youbet.com Inc. for online bets. True said Television Games Network has become one of Los Alamitos' biggest off-track revenue sources since phone and online betting was approved in California. "Television Games Network has become 5 percent of our total handle," about $1.3 million in bets daily, True said. "We expect that number to double by the end of the year." Los Alamitos already had been simulcasting, which lets fans in other states bet on Los Alamitos' races. But California hadn't given the green light for Internet or phone betting, which is legal in 10 other states. The network also signed a two-year pact with Fox Sports Net West and Fox Sports Net West 2 to provide two hours of live racing daily from Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . The added exposure is a welcome turn for Los Alamitos, which has seen crowds at the track fall off in the past few years. "Much like the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga and NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= or other sports, horse racing will use television to expand awareness, involvement and familiarity with the sport, which has been out of touch with the mainstream sports enthusiast for some time," Tree said. Still, online betting is no quick fix. "Because off-track revenues are slightly less than on-track revenues, racetracks may have a short-term downturn," True said. "Ultimately, we think that broad distribution, especially in a large market like L.A., will enable us to achieve higher handles with more people." True said that approval of Internet and phone-based betting was "a major step for horse racing," since California represents 25 percent -- about $4 billion annually -- of all U.S. wagering on horse racing. The Television Games Network has also signed deals with the Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
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