Word: wonderlands
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Wonderland has fallen upon some toughtimes. the track is on a pace to handle $170million in wagers this year, far short of its $200million target. "Nationwide, the paramutuels aregetting beaten up pretty good and New England hasbeen the hardest hit," Bucci says. "People justdon't have the leisure money they had in the late'80s. Hopefully, the economy will turn aroundsoon." Even if it does, Wonderland will have tocontend with stiff local competition for thegambling dollar. there are dogs at Raynham Parkthoroughbreds at Rockingham Park. there's thelargest state lottery in the country. There's alsoSuffolk Downs just a mile...
Problem is, the logical extension of Bucci'ssolution is to bring the product directly to thepeople. Beam high-profile races into their ownliving rooms. Let them phone in their bets fromhome. Technologically, it can be done. And thatcould be the end of the Wonderland. If peoplecould stay home and bet, why would they want tocome to the track...
...experience the awe-inspiring spectacleof live dog-racing. Come on, most of Wonderland'sclientele already watches the races on closed-circuit TV. There just isn't that much toexperience. As Vader wrote, "there are no manesand tail blowing, no bright silks, no sweat nobloodlines going back centuries, no Old Kentuckyhome," Wonderland runs ads featuring abasset houndnamed Buck-O with a rocket strapped to his backbeneath the legend, "The Basic Idea BehindGreyhound Racing." They're supposed to betongue-in-cheek. But that is the basic idea behindgreyhound racing. It's too damn fast. by the timeyou've figured out which...
...their friends, either. Wonderlandbrochures are full happy young people inbright-colored collared shirts hanging out withtheir best Wonderland buddies. Truth is, nobodyhas any Wonderland buddies. "I mean you recognizepeople, but you don't make friends," Wayne says.There's nothing communal about wonderland. Peoplego, bet, watch the races on a TV screen, cash in,go home. if they could do it without goinganywhere, they would...
...though Wonderland continues tosurvive. Every night--and four afternoon matineesa week--a few thousand men and women come towonderland to bet the dogs. More on specialpromotional nights. Fewer on nights when RogerClemens is pitching for the Sox. they're notbeautiful people, wealthy people, famous people,or powerful people, but they're people. "Averagefolks, the kind of people you'd meet at thedrugstore," says Larry Rooney, a 19-year veteranof the Massachusetts racing Commission. they'vegot nothing better to do than risk some cash, noone better to see than each other, So they comeback to the end of the blue Line...