Betting on horses is known to be quite the expensive hobby.

Tell that to Jeff Dier and his group of friends who hang out at State Fair Park several times a week.

“It’s all about how you look at it,” said Dier, a professional painter from Lincoln.  “If you have a $150-a- week golf habit, then I can easily have a $150-a-week racing habit. Just I’d have a chance to get it back and win.”

Regulars who wager on simulcasts and live racing at State Fair Park don’t fit  society’s stereotype of obsessive racing junkies blowing their paychecks at the track.

Instead, it’s a hobby and social scene.

Dier will stop by the track several times a week, some days just to say hi to his friends. Other days, he may sit down and bet 30 races.

Dier said he and his friends are fairly knowledgeable about horse racing, but by no means consider themselves experts.

“I analyze races and then react to what I see the odds do, if it’s a good bet to make money,” Dier said. “Knowledge of breeding, speed and class are the biggest things.”

Another man who used to own horses and now is one of the regulars at State Fair Park said most of the people who bet do it for fun and don’t expect to win piles of money.

“You don’t beat the game,” the fan said, choosing not to give his name. “Anybody who tells you they make money every day or over an extended period of time is full of (it).”

For some fans at State Fair Park, where live racing is featured Thursdays through Sundays, the thrill is just in watching the horses run.

But many of the regulars don’t even bet on the live races. Dier said many serious fans prefer betting on simulcasts from tracks across the country because of the greater chance to win big.

“The smaller pools like a Lincoln fair, the only people in there are the gamblers,” Dier said. “Payoffs are too short versus the risk.

“Where at a big track, where there may be a $100,000 in that pool, there is a lot of dumb money where people are gambling just for fun with no idea what they are doing. That adds to the riches of your payoff.”

Instead of being open for a few months a year just for live racing, State Fair Park now shows simulcast races 363 days a year.

But is that a good thing? Doesn’t that kill the mystique of going to see the horses run live?

Greg Hosch, the director of racing operations at State Fair Park, said simulcasting is great for the big tracks but doesn’t do much for places such as the Lincoln track.

“It’s kind of a catch-22,” Hosch said, noting that the bigger tracks have become stronger since they can ask the smaller tracks for more money to simulcast their races.

Still, Hosch sees the benefits of simulcasting and how regulars can prefer it. But every regular gets started by betting on live races. The key is finding ways to draw newcomers to the track.

“You have your regulars that are valuable pieces of the puzzle,” Hosch said. “The problem is, it’s an aging population.

“What live racing does, and what we’ve tried to do with night racing and moving Saturdays to night racing, is to get a younger crowd out here and a festival, party type of atmosphere.”

Not that the regulars don’t have their fun, too.

“There’s probably a dozen of us in our crowd,” Dier said. “And if one person is doing well, then they buy the drinks.”

Reach Tommy Dahlk at 473-7431 or at tdahlk@journalstar.com.