The world's richest horse racing handicapping tournament, The Championship at The Orleans in Las Vegas, got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday.

Severe technical problems forced Coast Resorts to cancel the first day of the scheduled three-day tournament. The Championship will re-start on Friday as a two-day tournament.

Nearly 700 entries at $500 apiece had already been accepted for The Championship. Since Coast Resorts returns all entry fees as prize money and adds $50,000 to the pot, the tournament jackpot would have approached $400,000.

The root of Thursday's problems was a new pari-mutuel tote system installed in stages this year at Coast Resorts' race book properties The Orleans, Gold Coast, Suncoast, and the Barbary Coast. The new tote system would not accept the contest selection cards used by players to register their tournament picks. Tempers escalated as irate players yelled at Coast Resorts personnel; some players were seen throwing their selection cards over counters in disgust.

Officials decided to bring in old tote equipment, and since it took many hours to install, the first day of competition was cancelled. The tournament was re-opened for any new players who wanted to join Friday morning.—Richard Eng