US 4,001,551 AGranted

Calculator

OwnerPaul A. Hirsimakiinventor

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Abstract

A calculating device and a mechanical method of calculating win, place and show odds for events such as horse races having pari-mutuel wagering systems. The apparatus includes a base member and a pair of slideable members laterally displaceable relative to the base member. A transparent cursor having a hairline located thereon is also laterally displaceable relative to the base member and to the slideable members. In an alternative embodiment, the members and the cursor are rotationally displaceable relative to the base member. The device is arranged so that indicia on a first scale which represent the amount in a wager pool of interest may be positioned relative to a second scale so that the hairline on the cursor may be adjusted to the amount bet on a horse of interest. The win odds of the horse of interest may be directly read beneath the cursor on a third scale and those odds may be calculated in terms of dollars returnable for a given bet on a fourth scale. To calculate place odds, a reference representing track take-out on the second slideable member is set at the amount bet on the horse of interest on the first scale and the percentage of the pool wagered on the other horse which may be expected to share the pool is read on the second scale. The hairline of the cursor is then positioned adjacent to that percentage found on the indicia of the second slideable member so that the odds may be read on a place scale on the base member at the cursor hairline. Show odds are similarly calculated by summing the amount of the two additional horses which may be expected to share the show pool so that the odds on the horse of interest are read directly on a show scale on the base member.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A calculator for calculating the odds for a selected entrant in a predetermined wagering pool for one of the different winning positions in the pari-mutuel system of wagering from a knowledge of the total amount of money wagered in said predetermined wagering pool and the amount of money wagered on each of the pool profit sharing entrants, comprising:

a first member having first indicia thereon representative of amounts wagered on each said entrant and the total amount wagered in said pool;
a second member movable relative to said first member, said second member having second indicia thereon for cooperating with said first indicia to determine the percentage of said total amount wagered on one or more of said entrants, said second member further including odds indicia representative of at least one of said different winning positions;
a third member movable relative to said first and second members, said third member having indicia thereon representative of the percentage of amounts wagered on the other entrant or entrants sharing said predetermined wagering pool with said selected entrant, said third indicia including an index;
and
a cursor movable relative to said first, second, and third members, said cursor having a hairline thereon, said first, second, third, and odds indicia being positioned on said calculator such that when said total amount wagered in said predetermined pool as shown on said first indicia is set adjacent the one hundred percent index on said second indicia, the third indicia index is set adjacent the amount wagered on said selected entrant as shown on said first indicia, and the cursor hairline is set on the percentage of preselected pool-sharing wagers for entrants expected to share in the pool with the entrant of interest on said third indicia, the odds for said selected entrant will be indicated by said hairline on said odds indicia.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.