by Tom De Martini

Wagering at Delaware Park and Philadelphia Park racetracks grinded to a halt for several races on Saturday due to problems at Scientific Games Corp.'s Mount Laurel, New Jersey, headquarters.

The trouble was rectified following the fifth race of Delaware's ten-race card, which allowed wagering on the multi-state Sixty Minute Six wager to move forward. Delaware Park in Stanton, Delaware, and Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, are participating tracks in the new multi-state wager that is in its second weekend.

Wagering was restored in time for the sixth race on Delaware's ten-race card after the first five races were contested for purse money only. Philadelphia Park also restored wagering for its sixth race after the track's tote system failed for the fifth race, the track's media relations director, Keith Jones, said.

Chris Sobocinski, racing information coordinator at Delaware Park, said the main and backup systems for the track's mutuel system simultaneously crashed Saturday afternoon. Sobocinski said the problem originated at the Scientific Games New Jersey data center.

Officials from Scientific Games Network were not immediately available for comment Saturday.

Tom De Martini is a New Jersey-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent