Oregon is a strange state for gamblers.

It subcontracts its entire mobile sports betting apparatus to just one operator, DraftKings, and doesn’t allow wagering on college athletics at all. Video lottery machines can be found in many a watering hole, but off-track betting parlors are present at just a handful of locations throughout the city.

One of these OTBs is located at Tom’s Bar, a woolly dive at the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Division in the Rose City’s southeast quadrant.

Tom’s Bar is adjacent to an old-school diner, also named Tom’s (same ownership), that’s been around for over half a century. In the shared corridor between the bar and the restaurant is a narrow room packed with TV screens, unmanned betting kiosks, and a few small tables. That’s the OTB.

The crowd in Tom’s OTB is a kaleidoscopic bunch, with multiple skin tones and languages represented. Most folks are there to bet horses on the Saturday of the Louisiana Derby, but Mike is there to bet on dogs.

Mike, who’s missing a leg, uses a pair of crutches to make his way to the kiosks.

Unlike with horse betting’s relatively leisurely schedule, where the races at a given track are typically 20 to 30 minutes apart, there are only about five minutes between each race at Mardi Gras Casino in West Virginia, one of just two active greyhound tracks remaining in the United States. Both are in the Mountaineer State.

A penchant for favorites

While horse racing is hardly in its heyday, dog racing, while legal, has become downright taboo, ranking a mere rung above cockfighting or dog fighting in the court of public opinion.

But Mike makes no apologies for his favorite sport.

He grew up watching live greyhound races at Multnomah Greyhound Park and switched to simulcasts when that venue closed closed in 2004. There’s no longer a horse track in the area either, with Portland Meadows falling prey to a wrecking ball in 2020.

Sipping on a short glass of Grand Marnier accompanied by a separate cup of Coca-Cola, Mike explains a printout of greyhound statistics to a novice observer. Turns out, they’re not all that dissimilar from the horse racing data one might pore over in the Daily Racing Form.

Mike tends to bet favorites and, fortunately for him, the favorites at Mardi Gras are reasonably priced on this Saturday. He seems to hit a winner every third race, which is enough to break even.

On the other side of the wall of TVs in Tom’s Bar, a lively crowd watches Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team put the finishing touches on a surprising throttling of Kansas to advance to the Sweet 16. But for Mike, there are only dogs. The dogs are in his blood.

Photo: Mike Seely/US Bets