More automated betting machines will be coming to Churchill Downs after the Derby. (Gary Landers photo)

        Every one of Kentucky's and Indiana's more than 1,200 unionized parimutuel clerks is pressed into service on Derby Day to handle the betting volume at Churchill Downs.

        But for some, this Derby is the last hurrah. The parimutuel — or betting window — clerk's job is slowly being replaced by betting machines that look like souped-up ATMs.

        Churchill Downs plans to install as many as 100 machines to take bets after the Derby on Saturday. The devices, known as “self-serve windows” in the industry, are similar to money machines.

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        “We are kind of dinosaurs, as some people have described (us)” said Mike Sadler, president of the Racetrack Employees Union, Local 541. “The last of a breed, but the track still needs us on the big days.”

        This will be the first significant increase in self-serve windows at Churchill since 1993, when the track installed about 50 of the machines.

        Bettors at some tracks in New York, including Aqueduct and Belmont, are already primarily served by automated betting machines.

        “I use the machines a lot,” said Charles Hughes, 44, of Louisville, while placing bets Wednesday afternoon at Turfway Park. “I've had tellers give me the wrong tickets. ... If you mess up placing a bet on the machines, it is your fault. I don't see why people don't use the machines.”

        The general rule in the industry is it takes four or five self-serve machines to replace one clerk, David Sweazy, vice president of operations at Churchill, said. That means 100 new machines could put 20 parimutuel clerks out of work, but neither Churchill nor the union would confirm that would happen.

        Churchill leases its self-serve windows from Maryland-based United Tote, which says each machine costs about $12,500.

        United Tote is one of three companies that make self-serve machines. Kevin O'Keefe, the company's chief operating officer, estimates there are between 4,000 and 5,000 of his company's machines operating at tracks in North America.

        Most tracks in the nation average from 30 to 50 percent of the handle through self-serve windows, said Mr. Sweazy. Churchill Downs gets about 6 percent of its take through self-serves.

        Self-serve windows reduce labor costs and put all liability on the bettor, said Mr. Sweazy. There is never a wrong ticket to have a dispute over. There is never a question about someone receiving incorrect change. And money drawers never come up short.

        Some bettors like the privacy the machine provides. The machines take bets, but do not give out cash. Winning tickets must be cashed by a clerk.

        “It takes both machines and clerks for the system to work,” said Mr. Sweazy, who has worked at Churchill Downs for 34 years. “Clerks are an element of our customer service.”

        He started out as a parimutuel clerk, eventually moving up to run the track's entire parimutuel department before becoming vice president of operations.

        Mr. Sadler of Louisville said clerks are invaluable to the track. They explain how to place a bet, tell patrons which horse has scratched and who the favorites are.

        Clerks in Kentucky are the friendliest in the nation, helping people in various stages of sobriety to place bets, said Mr. Sadler, who has been a parimutuel clerk for 30 years. He added that customer service would be reduced by eliminating clerks, and that shouldn't happen at the industry's premier track.

        “If you think Wildcat fans bleed UK blue, we have the same core of people who bleed racing,” he said. “The mutuel clerks provide a level of service to these people that is unparalleled in the industry.”

        Innovation and technology has changed the job of a parimutuel clerk over time, but maybe never before have clerks felt more threatened.

        The job used to be part-time, said Mr. Sadler. People wanting to make it a career would have to live a nomadic life, traveling from track to track. That changed more than 10 years ago, when tracks started operating year-round by offering simulcasting. With betting around the calendar, clerks could stay in one place.

        Of Local 541's 1,200 members in Kentucky and Indiana, 200 work year-round in the Bluegrass State. Eight hundred work part-time in Kentucky.

        The tracks need every single union member and more for big days like the Derby in the spring and Breeder's Cup in the fall, but only a fraction of those people for the rest of the year. Churchill staffs its parimutuel department with 1,300 people for the Derby, said Mr. Sweazy. On average, the track needs only 225 to 250 clerks for other race days.

        Union President Sadler said clerks make a visit to the track a positive experience, turning newcomers into race fans.

        “If the whole racing experience is putting a $20 bill in the machine and watching the race on TV, the sport doesn't have much of a future,” Mr. Sadler said. “That is the difference between horse racing and other gaming. A slot machine never says "good luck' and "thank you.'”
       

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