Amtote

Hunt Valley-based AmTote International is up for sale, its parent company said yesterday as it laid off 25 employees of the gambling equipment company as a prelude to a deal.GTech Holdings Corp., the world's largest provider of computerized lottery systems, said yesterday that officials were negotiating with "several parties" to sell AmTote less than two years after it was acquired for $20.7 million.The sale, officials said, will not affect AmTote's contractual commitments to lease betting ticket machines, infield tote boards and computer systems to pari-mutuel race tracks and off-track-betting parlors throughout the world, including Pimlico and Laurel race tracks in Maryland.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the Canadian owner of a dozen North American horse racetracks, including Pimlico and Laurel Park, said yesterday that it bought the remaining 70 percent stake in AmTote International Inc. of Hunt Valley - a pioneer of the electronic bet-processing system in the racing industry. Magna paid $13.6 million for the rest of the privately held company, which more than 70 years ago single-handedly changed the face of racing by installing the first electronic system to process bets during the Great Depression.

Imagine you placed a $10 bet on a horse tagged with 10-to-1 odds for today's Preakness Stakes. Like a dream come true, that long shot comes through.But instead of the odds you were promised before the race, the track makes a mistake. Your payout is a meager $36 instead of the $100 you anticipated.That's just how Henry L. Straus got burned at a small Havre de Grace racetrack almost 70 years ago.Today, the stakes are much higher. Pimlico Race Course officials expect to rake in about $8 million in bets on the 116th running of the Preakness.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the Canadian concern that owns 14 North American horse racetracks, including Pimlico and Laurel, bought a slice of racing history yesterday - a 30 percent stake in AmTote International Inc. of Hunt Valley. Magna paid $3.82 million for its piece of AmTote, a company more than 60 years old that single-handedly changed the face of racing by installing the first electronic system to process bets during the Great Depression. John C. Corckran Jr., president of AmTote, declined to comment for the story, but said in a statement that the deal with Magna will help the firm "develop a wealth of new ideas for the entire pari-mutuel industry."

AmTote International Inc. was acquired yesterday by a small group of local investors who say the sale ensures that the Hunt Valley-based supplier of electronic equipment for the horse racing industry will remain in Maryland.AmTote, founded in 1932, had been owned by GTECH Holdings Corp. of West Greenwich, R.I., since 1993. The purchase price was not disclosed.The new owners are Ted Mudge, the managing director of the Pinaco Group, a Baltimore-based insurance brokerage and an active member of the thoroughbred racing industry; and John and James Corckran, owners of Clendenin Brothers Inc., an East Baltimore manufacturer of nails, rivets, nuts, bolts and other fasteners that was founded in 1865.

GTECH Corp. yesterday laid off about 30 workers at its newly acquired AmTote International unit in Hunt Valley, but the company denied reports it has decided to move most of the Maryland operation to Boca Raton, Fla.GTECH spokesman Robert Rendine said yesterday's cuts were an expected consequence of AmTote's weak performance in recent years and duplication of functions between AmTote and GTECH's home office in West Greenwich, R.I.He said similar cuts had...

Maryland's lottery and horse racing businesses -- competitors for the state's gambling dollars -- could end up sharing a common supplier of wagering equipment.GTech Corp. of Providence, R.I., said yesterday that it had signed a letter of intent to purchase AmTote International Inc., the Hunt Valley-based subsidiary of General Instrument Corp., which provides and services pari-mutuel wagering systems to xTC about 100 horse and dog tracks worldwide.AmTote has about 300 employees at its headquarters and an additional 630 workers across the country and overseas.

A new term -- the pool collator -- has been added to racing jargon.The computer console is the new piece of equipment designed and marketed by AmTote International in Hunt Valley that makes it possible for a track such as Pimlico to take in bets over high-speed telephone lines from racing centers all over the country.It's called commingling, and it has drastically changed the way racing operates in just the last few months. Some tracks, such as Arlington International Racecourse near Chicago or the Hinsdale dog track in New Hampshire, take bets on up to 15 different racing cards, said AmTote's Jim Clark, longtime customer relations representative for the Mid-Atlantic region.

GTECH Holdings Corp. is expected to announce Monday that it has sold its Maryland-based AmTote International division to a private concern backed at least in part by local investors, a union official said yesterday.GTECH has been trying to sell AmTote -- which employs roughly 500 people nationwide and makes, leases and maintains racetrack betting equipment -- for almost a year.Yesterday, it was close to completing a sale to a company tied to the people who own Baltimore-based manufacturer Clendenin Brothers Inc., said Dion F. Guthrie, president of a union local that represents AmTote workers.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the Canadian owner of a dozen North American horse racetracks, including Pimlico and Laurel Park, said yesterday that it bought the remaining 70 percent stake in AmTote International Inc. of Hunt Valley - a pioneer of the electronic bet-processing system in the racing industry. Magna paid $13.6 million for the rest of the privately held company, which more than 70 years ago single-handedly changed the face of racing by installing the first electronic system to process bets during the Great Depression.

At Churchill Downs, players now have to place their bets several minutes before the race goes off. New York is following suit, but only for off-track bettors. And racing commissions in Illinois and Canada have banned the multi-race wagers involved in the recent bet-rigging scandals. Across North America, racing officials are taking steps to secure their systems and boost consumer confidence in the wake of the sport's biggest scam, one in which three fraternity brothers allegedly used computers to net more than $3 million.

James E. Clark, an AmTote customer service representative who was responsible for the operation of computer systems and terminals used for parimutuel wagering at thoroughbred race tracks, died Tuesday of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 79. Known as "Mr. AmTote," the Mays Chapel resident spent 52 years with the Hunt Valley company and became one of horse racing's most well known and highly respected figures. He spent his workdays visiting tracks in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Mexico.

AmTote International Inc. was acquired yesterday by a small group of local investors who say the sale ensures that the Hunt Valley-based supplier of electronic equipment for the horse racing industry will remain in Maryland.AmTote, founded in 1932, had been owned by GTECH Holdings Corp. of West Greenwich, R.I., since 1993. The purchase price was not disclosed.The new owners are Ted Mudge, the managing director of the Pinaco Group, a Baltimore-based insurance brokerage and an active member of the thoroughbred racing industry; and John and James Corckran, owners of Clendenin Brothers Inc., an East Baltimore manufacturer of nails, rivets, nuts, bolts and other fasteners that was founded in 1865.

GTECH Holdings Corp. is expected to announce Monday that it has sold its Maryland-based AmTote International division to a private concern backed at least in part by local investors, a union official said yesterday.GTECH has been trying to sell AmTote -- which employs roughly 500 people nationwide and makes, leases and maintains racetrack betting equipment -- for almost a year.Yesterday, it was close to completing a sale to a company tied to the people who own Baltimore-based manufacturer Clendenin Brothers Inc., said Dion F. Guthrie, president of a union local that represents AmTote workers.

Hunt Valley-based AmTote International is up for sale, its parent company said yesterday as it laid off 25 employees of the gambling equipment company as a prelude to a deal.GTech Holdings Corp., the world's largest provider of computerized lottery systems, said yesterday that officials were negotiating with "several parties" to sell AmTote less than two years after it was acquired for $20.7 million.The sale, officials said, will not affect AmTote's contractual commitments to lease betting ticket machines, infield tote boards and computer systems to pari-mutuel race tracks and off-track-betting parlors throughout the world, including Pimlico and Laurel race tracks in Maryland.

To a generation of Maryland horseplayers, Guy Snowden is known as the owner of some fast racehorses, usually precocious 2-year-olds, trained locally by John Salzman.For more than a decade, Snowden has been a horse owner, running about 100 thoroughbreds, principally at the Maryland tracks. Departing Smoke. Departing Cloud. Ducere. They have all been runners carrying Snowden's silks in races ranging from prestigious stakes events to claimers."You're Guy B. Snowden?" a patron in a Washington bar once asked him, referring to the way Snowden's name is printed on Laurel Race Course programs.

GTECH Corp. plans to lay off workers at its newly acquired AmTote International division in Hunt Valley, and said yesterday that it was considering moving at least part of the 250-worker operation to Florida."

Laurel Race Course and the Pimlico simulcast center will be closed for four days late next month so that new pari-mutuel terminals, called the Spectrum system, can be installed by AmTote International Inc.The new equipment, already in use at Rosecroft and Delmarva raceways, will furnish all tracks in the state with a uniform totalisator network and hasten plans for intertrack wagering, multiple-signal simulcasting and the establishment of off-track betting...

EC readies retaliatory sanctionsThe European Community is poised to apply a $15 million package of retaliatory trade sanctions against the United States next week in a dispute over government contracts, but it did not expect the dispute to deepen.EC officials said representatives of the 12 EC states decided yesterday to set limited countersanctions in response to Washington's announcement last week of trade curbs totaling $20 million against the EC.ABC to bill cable systemsCapital Cities/ABC Inc. said yesterday that it will seek cash from cable television systems for the right to carry its broadcast signals, setting up a high-stakes battle between the broadcasting and cable companies.

GTECH Corp. yesterday laid off about 30 workers at its newly acquired AmTote International unit in Hunt Valley, but the company denied reports it has decided to move most of the Maryland operation to Boca Raton, Fla.GTECH spokesman Robert Rendine said yesterday's cuts were an expected consequence of AmTote's weak performance in recent years and duplication of functions between AmTote and GTECH's home office in West Greenwich, R.I.He said similar cuts had...