SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, May 20, 2009--The timing of recent wagering developments was as inescapable as it was ironic. In one case, the news for bettors was promising. In the other, not so much.

At 4:54 p.m. May 18, a press release arrived by e-mail from the office of California State Senate contact Adam Keigwin with the headline “Horse Racing Oversight Bill Approved By Senate.”

However, 23 hours and 50 minutes later, this came: “Yet Another Betting Glitch Hits California Horse Racing.”

Tote insecurity is nothing new, becoming a major story in 2002 when a dishonest programmer from totalizator company Autotote took advantage of the transmission delay from simulcast venue to track betting pool that resulted in the notorious Breeders‘ Cup “Fix Six” scandal.

Had the conspiracy not been exposed, it would have illegally garnered $3.2 million from unsuspecting Pick Six bettors. Its mastermind also admitted to authorities that he stole a hundred-thousand dollars from the uncashed-tickets pool by creating counterfeit betting slips.

Following the incident, the racing industry responded by making recommendations and promises to improve tote security, but the system is still experiencing major problems that has chased many professional horseplayers away.

Just last month, through the New York City Off-Track Betting system, $2 bets processed through the Am Tote wagering company were deposited into wagering pools as $200 wagers. The mistake affected betting pools from New York to California, from Kentucky to Florida.

In California on Preakness day, betting windows at 33 simulcast sites remained open on a Hollywood Park race after the event had been run. The malfunction involved betting locations that did not receive a “stop betting signal” from Scientific Games, the tote system used at California tracks.

In this instance, wagers, including those made properly, were removed from the pool and all bets were refunded, punishing the innocent along with those who took advantage of the error. The California Horse Racing Board currently is investigating the matter.

Three incidents involving three different tote companies yielding three bad results for bettors. Like politicians, the only thing industry leaders have done in real time is to issue memos, mail press releases, and launch investigations that never seem to result in positive action for their best customers, a.k.a. bettors.

Speaking before an industry panel last year, Mike Maloney, one of America’s most prolific horseplayers, informed authorities about how he was able to bet on a race from Fair Grounds for nearly a minute after it had been run.

Apparently Maloney wasn’t convinced he would get a positive outcome, according to a subsequent quote he furnished the Thoroughbred Times: “The industry doesn’t address this because it costs money and doesn’t make money, but it hurts the pool and hurts the game. They don’t care because they get their commission whether people win or lose.”

After wagering pools in five states were adversely affected by the NYC-OTB incident, Ed Martin, President of American Racing Commissions International, told Thoroughbred Times that “this is yet another example of why the ARCI Wagering and Integrity program needs to be implemented immediately involving tote systems; to hopefully detect these types of problems before they happen.”

If Martin were the ARCI resident at the time, he probably said the same thing at the organization’s first meeting following the 2002 Breeders’ Cup.

In no small way is it ironic that less than 24 hours after the California State Senate overwhelmingly approved SB 662--legislation authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) providing for independent oversight of all pari-mutuel horse race wagering in California--was it learned that another past-posting incident had occurred, an event that has become far too commonplace.

The incentive for Yee’s bill was the result of a different kind of wagering controversy that surfaced in last year’s “quick pick” bets on the Kentucky Derby superfecta. Due to a programming error, the #20 post position was inadvertently omitted from the possible 5,200 permutations on betting slips.

The #20, of course, was the winning position occupied by Derby favorite Big Brown, which would have cost winning superfecta bettors over $29,000 per $1 bet.

If SB 662 clears the California State Assembly and is signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the CHRB would be required to institute real-time monitoring of all pari-mutuel transactions, a fail-safe measure that should have been instituted nationally following the now seven-year-old Fix Six scandal.

While normally there is some kind of human error involved in past-posting situations, the vexing problem of late-odds drops, strictly a technology issue, remains. As stated, this industry does little in real time.

In the main, late-odds drops are caused by the 15 to 20-second cycle it takes for betting totals on last-second wagers to reach the track from a simulcast venue, another 15-to-20 seconds to go from venue tote room to odds board, and another 15-to-20 seconds to reach television monitors, where most bettors see the drop during the running of a race.

Of course, sometimes the odds on winning horses go up but a preponderance goes down. Although there’s nothing sinister at work, a bad message is being sent. Horseplayers are distrusting by nature; the industry must recognize this and work that much harder to gain their confidence.

No longer will they come just because you build it.

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It's An Epidemic

In the midst of an interview last evening with Horseplayers Association of North America president Jeff Platt, HRI learned that the second race at Penn National for Wednesday May 20 was declared a non-betting event when the betting pool didn't close until approximately 20 minutes after the race had been declared official.

The winning Twodoorsdown won the race at 10-1. The race, for $5,000 claimers going a a mile and 70 yards, was declared official and an announcement was made that prices were pending. While the prices were pending, the winner's odds dropped to 9-1, then 8-1, then, after the lengthy delay, the race was declared a non-wagering event and all wagers, including those properly placed, were refunded.

Another investigation into past-posting is expected to be announced shortly.