Re(2): Long lines, back in the day Posted on June 28, 2026 at 06:09:58 AM by 40yrfan
Looking at it from a mutual clerk's viewpoint, a real flaw in the days before self service terminals was the fact that once a ticket was punched
there was no canceling the wager and the clerk could end up "holding the bag." Some of the folks making wagers would be drunk,
flighty minded, or poor in math. When working a window I would repeat the numbers before I printed them out only to have the patron deny that they called those numbers. Some drunken people would call out 20 or more combinations only to realize they had repeated numbers or did not have enough money. In the meantime, as the two minutes to "post" bell was dinging people in the line were getting antsy with some of the drunker ones cursing or getting downright belligerent. Back to my statement that the clerk could end up "holding the bag," that was rarely the case because after the final bell rang when the opening serve was made and the mutuals locked I would call out numbers and that I had and patrons desperate to have action would buy up almost everything I was holding. Some of those people viewed those tickets to be "lucky." Employees who worked at the Sell Windows could leave their stations and watch the games and not have to be until the game's results became "official." Needless to say, a few times I rooted for the 7/8. Replies:
Tiger's Jai-Alai Chalk Talk
