Is the Rainbow 6 the greatest internet gambling opportunity ever?

There have been bigger pools of money available to online bettors before, but as far as free money goes, it will be tough to top the $4,503,332 that will be added to the Rainbow Pick 6 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Typically a unique winner wager that only pays the jackpot to a single winning ticket, the Rainbow 6 on Saturday will pay out to ALL perfect tickets. The Rainbow 6 requires bettors to select the winners of six consecutive races, and the bet costs $0.20 per combination.

For handicapping information for Saturday at Gulfstream Park, visit the Brisnet.com handicapping tab of TwinSpires.com.

The record for a Pick 6 pool is $10,870,852.60 set July 3, 2007, at the late Hollywood Park where bettors wagered $7,596,347 of new money (a single day record) on top of a $3,274,505 carryover. Gulfstream bettors would have to wager $6,367,520.80 to break the total pool record and at least $7,596,347.20 to break the single day record. If the latter happens the total pool would be more than $12-million.

Anyone who watched football at the beginning of last season or played online poker during its boom last decade knows that million-dollar prize pools are nothing new, but $4,503,332 of free money is special indeed.

Racing lacks the marketing dollars and arm that online poker and daily fantasy sites had, which is a shame because the opportunity not only to chase after this money but also to do so online really is unparalleled in the United States, and it deserves to be celebrated.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the excitement a Pick 6 carryover brought to Ak-Sar-Ben (like Hollywood, another defunct track) in Omaha. Flash mobs of 20,000 and 31,000 people showed up to chase million-dollar pools in June 1985.

There will be no such flash mob on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but TwinSpires.com is absolutely expecting a run on the Rainbow^6 (conveniently occurring between the $10-million Dubai World Cup and $1-million Louisiana Derby). Heck, we already know $125,000 will be bet through our players pools alone!

Account wagering existed during the last record pool, but social media was just in its infancy (I had joined Twitter in 2007 14 weeks to the day before that record pool, and Facebook was still mostly relegated to college campuses). A generation-and-nine years later, that crowd at Ak-Sar-Ben has moved online.

“Racing Twitter” will be a-chirp with chatter as the Rainbow 6 comes and goes. Jokes will be made about Gulfstream dragging its post time, complaints will be lodged against jockeys, and we’ll get to do it six times throughout the afternoon until the victors claim their spoils and brag about it online.

As fun as it is to talk and joke about racing on Twitter, that is nothing compared to the excitement of actually getting to bet on it online. Throw in the potential for a record, eight-figure pool, and it really is the greatest internet gambling opportunity ever.