By Harry King

HOT SPRINGS — Prominently displayed at the information kiosk, the colorful how-to-wager cards were bypassed by the masses who made a beeline for technology.

For more than an hour, both lines to sign up for the mobile app were 10-12 deep. Once a patron registered, he or she moved off to the left to huddle with two well-informed young people.

Thirty steps away, the old and the new meshed.

Amongst the mutuel clerks, who have worked for decades with their backs to the money room and beyond that Central Avenue, were two clerks ready to help the techno-wise bettors put money in their phone accounts and learn about accessing the wagering menu.

Twenty dollars was the minimum deposit.

Oaklawn Park is one of the few places where the rookies mix seamlessly with the everyday horseplayers; where, in a world overrun with exotic wagers, almost half the money bet on track goes for win, place or show.

On Friday’s opening day, like every weekend day, there were:

—Those who couldn’t tell you a 50-cent, four-horse trifecta box costs $12.

—Those who go to the stand-alone machines because they don’t want others to know the amount of their wagers.

—Old-timers who grew up betting and cashing with mutuel clerks and who will always wager that way.

—Those there for the corned beef, people watching and splitting bets.

Under the banner proclaiming “My Oaklawn,” the young woman answered every question from the people with phones in hand. She had been expecting weird questions; what she got was a series of very smart ones, she said.

Years ago, some of those doing the asking were more naive.

Like the day a woman approached the fan education booth at Remington Park in Oklahoma City and complained that a mutuel clerk wouldn’t allow her to bet No. 4 in the upcoming race.

Politely, the employee told her the horse was scratched.

“Well, I know he’s scratched, but if it’s just a scratch, he should still run good, right?” she said.

On Friday, those downloading the app ran the gamut. Some were simply curious, like the guy in his 20s, jeans and red hoodie, who had never played the horses. His usual haunt is the poker table in the adjoining gaming center, he said. But, he signed up.

Waiting in line, a well-dressed woman said she liked the idea of staying in her upstairs box and wagering.

A semi-regular who is superstitious about returning to a clerk who sells him a winning ticket decided his phone was his new favorite teller shortly after Safe N Rich ran second at 22-to-1 in the first race.

For first-time horseplayers, Oaklawn made available a lime-green card with a pull tab that explained everything from straight wagers to boxing horses. On the back, racetrack terms are explained.

The learning curve extended to the tellers on the third floor. A player with a $100 bill wanted to bet the same four numbers in a trifecta box in each of the nine races. Laboriously, the woman punched out each race until she got to the seventh and one of the horses was scratched.

Confused, she asked for a supervisor. He told her to cancel the six tickets she had punched, key in the numbers, and hit the all button.

An Oaklawn exec provided perspective when he said business was up 100 percent from opening day 2011. The track was frozen that day; there was no racing.

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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.