A pari-mutuel interleaved wagering system including an interactive controller constructed to communicate with an application controller and receive a thematic graphical display from the application controller, display the thematic graphical display to a user, receive a placement of a wager from the user, and communicate the placement of the wager to the application controller. The system further includes a wager controller that includes an abstraction module constructed to receive pari-mutuel wagering parameters for a wager from a pari-mutuel server, determine a wager outcome from the pari-mutuel gambling outcome, and communicate the wager outcome to the application controller. The application controller operatively connects the interactive controller and the wager controller, and generates the thematic graphical display using the pari-mutuel wagering parameters.