Downsized but still kickin', casino racebooks a place to be on Derby Day

They still bet on horses don't they?At the casinos' racebooks they do, though the surroundings aren't nearly as spacious as they once were.Nevertheless, Saturday is Kentucky Derby Day, arguably horse racing's biggest day of the year, and both Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have parties planned in their sports books and other casino locations, reminders that the sport of kings is alive, if not exactly thriving.Once freestanding spaces that catered to an off-track betting crowd that wagered on simulcasts of live horse racing at tracks around the country as well as greyhound racing and jai alai, the racebooks are now incorporated in the flashy new sports books the casinos opened in the wake of Connecticut's 2021 legalization of online casino gaming and sports betting.In the sports books, most of the action involves betting on football, basketball and other major team sports.Mohegan Sun has carved out space for its racebook in a corner of its FanDuel Sportsbook, which used to house the casino's original racebook. The sports book is a wide open, 11,000-square-foot expanse that has seating for more than 200 people and a 140-by-14-foot video wall along the back of the room.The racebook has 26 seats equipped with personal betting monitors known as "Tiny Tims" and five flat-screen TVs.Foxwoods closed its original Ultimate Race Book, which occupied more than 10,000 square feet in its Rainmaker Casino, when it opened its DraftKings Sportsbook, which encompasses about 12,000 square feet on two levels. It boasts seating for 225 people, a 50-by-30-foot LED monitor and an additional 300 feet of TV screens. Only a small portion of it is dedicated to a racebook.Brian Hayes, Foxwoods' senior vice president of gaming operations, said the casino's original 190-seat racebook was as big as it was because it was designed in the 1990s with sports betting in mind. At the time, he said, Foxwoods officials believed the legalization of sports betting was imminent."We've created a dedicated space for our guests who enjoy horse racing," Hayes said. "Many of them asked for a dedicated space and we worked with them to provide it."Hayes couldn't say how many horse players frequent Foxwoods' racebook, but acknowledged there are fewer than there were before the COVID 19 pandemic.Mohegan Sun has gone out of its way to accommodate the dwindling ranks of horse players."Most sports books are getting away from horse racing ― we're embracing it," said Brad Bryant, Mohegan Sun's general manager of racing and sports book. "It would be easy for any property to just let it fade, but we're choosing to not let that happen."Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, the racebook is open the other days of the week, featuring racing from New York Racing Association tracks in Queens, Elmont and Saratoga Springs as well as tracks in Kentucky, Florida and California. Only two U.S. greyhound racing facilities remain, both in West Virginia, and, Bryant said, "We very seldom get a bet on jai alai."Bettors of a certain age remember when jai alai frontons and dog tracks flourished in Connecticut in the late 1970s and '80s, before the casinos opened in the '90s.Andrew Prince, 58, of New Britain, and Chris "The Kid" Maus, 49, of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., a village in Dutchess County, two longtime horse players, were in their seats this past Saturday morning at Mohegan Sun's racebook. For a few minutes, they had the place to themselves."I like coming here because I feel like I'm at a resort, but I can be home in 45 minutes if there's an emergency," Prince said.His other in-person options are the OTB facilities that Sportech Venues operates at certain Connecticut Lottery locations, including one in New Britain.Maus, whose drive from New York is 2 hours, 45 minutes, has been coming to Mohegan Sun's racebook since 1998. Like Prince, he approves of the way the new racebook is separated from the rest of the sports book and the way Mohegan Sun continues to cater to the horse player ― the stepchild of casino gamblers."We're isolated from the sports betting," he said. "You're not going to hear people cheering for a football game."On Saturday, the casinos' racebook denizens can be expected to make lots of their own noise about the time the Kentucky Derby entrants hit the backstretch at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Long known as "The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports," the 149th edition of the "Run for the Roses," one of 14 scheduled races, is set to go off at 6:57 p.m.Mohegan Sun's celebration will start at 10 a.m. Saturday in the FanDuel Sportsbook, where Anthony "Big A" Stabile, a well-known NYRA handicapper, writer and on-air host, and Mike "Mut" Mutnansky, a former Boston radio sports talk show personality and horse player, will appear as guest handicappers.Foxwoods is planning special activities in its DraftKings Sportsbook as well as a party in its new Rainmaker Expo Center, where a betting terminal will be set up, according to Hayes, the casino executive. He said he expects hundreds of people to gather in the ballroom and hundreds more to pack the sports book as post time approaches.b.hallenbeck@theday.com