Caliente to Accept Bets on U.S. Sports : Wagering Just Waiting for Computers, Mexican Officials Say

SAN DIEGO —  Betting parlors operated by Caliente Race Track in Tijuana will soon begin accepting wagers on U.S. professional and collegiate sports, it was reported today.

Caliente, which operates sports books in four cities and plans to expand, was recently granted permission by Mexican government officials to conduct sports wagering, according to a report published today in the San Diego Union.

Mexican officials said the betting, illegal throughout the United States except in Nevada, will begin in Tijuana as soon as computerized equipment needed to monitor the wagering is installed.

“We’re just waiting for them to tell us their start-up date,” said Rafael Martinez, an official with the Ministry of Interior, in a telephone interview Thursday from Mexico City.

An unnamed source described as a leading member of the Las Vegas gaming industry said Caliente officials have contacted an odds maker concerning the establishment of betting lines to be used for U.S. events, according to the report.

Tijuana is 15 miles south of downtown San Diego and about 130 miles south of Los Angeles, two areas that provide Las Vegas with much of its betting clientele.

The source, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, said Caliente officials have indicated that sports betting in Mexico will be limited to Baja California and Baja California Sur, the two states composing the peninsula.

Caliente operates race books in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Tecate and Mexicali that handle bets on horse and dog racing. Expansion plans call for new betting parlors in La Paz, Loreto and Cabo San Lucas.

Mexico claims a 1% tax on existing race wagering and will presumably deduct the same tax on sports betting.

Caliente officials, possibly worried that early publicity and recent shifts in local political power might kill the new betting plans, declined to confirm the report.

“We don’t have anything to really, solidly say,” said Caliente General Manager Arturo Alemany. “For 40 years, this has been a rumor. . . . I just want to tell you that anything that gets out on this could hurt us more than it would help us.”

An estimated 12.5 million people live within 130 miles of Tijuana, about 2.5 million in San Diego County, at least 8.5 million in the rest of Southern California and 1.5 million in Tijuana itself.

In Las Vegas, where the population is fewer than 1 million, during the fiscal year ending June, 1988, $962.7 million was wagered in Clark County’s 41 sports books, according to Charles Anderson, a financial analyst for the Nevada Gaming Commission.

From the $962.7 million, Anderson said the “hold,” or what the betting parlors had left after paying off winning wagers, was $25.4 million, amounting to about 2.6%.