Philly's web handle jumps

Handle through Philadelphia Park's Oregon-based international betting hub skyrocketed $8.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2002 to $42.9 million, while handle through Television Games Network's service for the quarter fell by $2.3 million, to $46.9 million, from the third quarter.

Philadelphia Park's hub, oneclickbetting.com, takes wagers in the United Kingdom on American races and commingles the bets into U.S. pools, according to Bill Hogwood, the head of the service.

Handle through the service in the third quarter of 2002 was $34 million, after a $1.2 million second quarter, according to the Oregon Racing Commission. "The majority of the business," said Hogwood, "is from the United Kingdom, and a little bit from some things we have done in Austria and Germany."

For TVG, the decline is the first time in six quarters that the service has had a drop in betting through the Oregon hub. In the second quarter of 2002, betting through TVG went from $16 million to $47.9 million, and in the third quarter betting rose to $49.2 million. A TVG official said that fewer tracks ran fewer races in the fourth quarter than in the third, leading to the decline in betting.