KENTUCKY RACING: AN INTEGRITY TASK FARCE?
People are making and cancelling bets on horses after races have begun. Let me repeat that: PEOPLE ARE MAKING AND CANCELLING BETS ON HORSES AFTER RACES HAVE BEGUN. Does anyone have a problem with that?
Apparently, several members appointed to a subcommittee on integrity that is part of a Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing in Kentucky aren’t all that concerned about the issue. The integrity subcommittee couldn’t even muster a quorum when three of its six voting members failed to show up for the panel’s first meeting at the offices of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Monday afternoon.
At the outset of the meeting, subcommittee chairman Ned Bonnie (a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission) said the panel was poised to take action on integrity issues until he was reminded by the commission’s executive director, Lisa Underwood, that a quorum wasn’t present.
Bonnie was joined by subcommittee members Robert Beck Jr. (an attorney and chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission) and Robert Vance, the secretary of Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. But missing were racing commission vice-chairman Tracy Farmer (chairman of the Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing and a Thoroughbred owner and breeder), Louisville real estate developer Brian Lavin and Paducah, Ky., attorney Duncan Pitchford.
It’s no wonder that some are referring to this entire exercise proposed by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear as a “task farce.”
Bonnie was disappointed at the no-shows, to be sure, but how do you think horseplayers feel? They are the ones, after all, whose confidence has been eroded by an archaic totalizator system with flaws that are being exploited by techno-savvy thieves; off-shore rebate shops that are virtually unregulated; a patchwork network of simulcast sites that answer to 38 different regulatory bodies; and ineffective rules, many of which were written for the good old days when the only bets made took place on track with a live teller.
For anyone not paying attention, the volume of pari-mutuel handle on horse racing is down this year by roughly 5%. It’s not just a Kentucky problem. By year’s end, total pari-mutuel handle in the United States may very well dip below $14 billion for the first time since 1999. That’s 10 years of stagnation.
We can blame the economy or competition from other forms of entertainment and gambling. Or we can ask our customers, which the National Thoroughbred Racing Association recently did, as to why they are not pushing as many dollars into the pari-mutuel pools as they used to. According to Keith Chamblin, the NTRA executive who outlined the consumer research at an industry conference, the attitudes of racing’s best customers can be summed up in five words: “Our core fans are pissed.”
Consumers are pissed because they feel cheaters continue to win races at an alarming rate by using performance enhancing drugs. They are convinced people are making or cancelling bets after races begin. And they see racing commissions and task forces and blue ribbon panels as pointless exercises conducted by mindless political appointees who are too out of tune to understand the problems or too apathetic to fix them.
That may or may not be the case with Kentucky’s Task Force and its various subcommittees. It should be noted that a majority of the ex officio non-voting members of the integrity subcommittee were on hand, including owner-breeder Gary Biszantz, professional horseplayer Mike Maloney and businessman Frank Kling, who spent a great deal of time and effort working on wagering integrity issues as a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, a panel dissolved by Beshear earlier this year and replaced with the current racing commission. All three spoke up in ways that indicate they understand the problems and sense the urgency in addressing them.
But the ex officio members can’t vote on any action items addressed by the integrity subcommittee. That’s up to the six voting members to do – if and when they show up for a meeting.
In the meantime, the entire Task Force should remember those five chilling words repeated by Chamblin: “Our core fans are pissed.”
The ball is in the court of the Kentucky Task Force and regulators, track operators, account wagering companies and others throughout this country.
What are they going to do address the concerns of racing’s best customers?
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: brian lavin, duncan pitchford, frank kling, gary biszantz, Horse Racing, integrity subcommittee, keith chamblin, kentucky horse racing, kentucky horse racing commission, kentucky racing, lisa underwood, mike maloney, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, ned bonnie, NTRA, pari-mutuel betting, pari-mutuel handle, pari-mutuel wagering, pari-mutuels, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, robert beck jr., robert vance, steve beshear, task force on the future of horse racing, totalizator, Tote System, tracy farmer
October 7th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
our core fans are pissed. where’s the analysis of how large those numbers are and just how this statement originates. are we to take everything at face value and assume because we read it here and in Dan Liebman’s equally deficient post that suddenly with all of horse racing’s problems that millions need to be thrown at wagering technology.
is a little history in order. as far as I know the breeders cup pick six problems occurred several years ago and were discovered and the pepetrators prosecuted. there is maybe on example of “past posting” that I’m aware of, and yet at the racing commission we have betting whale maloney making a bfd of the supposed problem while simultaneously being part of an effort to sell equipment, which is what i beleive this conference really was all about.
perhaps there are things I’m just failing to understand that could be explained. but, until they are, how is the occasional accidental post starting gate bet of significant concern to anybody??????? is it enough that jurisdictions such as KY do their best within limits to insure intergrity without giving the cheaters out there millions of dollars in new technology to shoot at. i’ say “earth to ray” it would be very relevant for you to detail just how and why all this is a problem. the facts please.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Ratherrapid … A few points in response:
1) The statement about the core fans was made by NTRA vice president Keith Chamblin at the TRA/HTA Simulcast Conference (link added to my story on the conference and the research outlined by Chamblin). The research was conducted by a company called SocialSphere Strategies… http://www.socialsphere.net/
2) I don’t believe I suggested we throw millions at wagering technology; only that it is outdated. For information on that, find a copy of the report prepared by Guiliani associates in the wake of the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Pick Six crimes.
3) Examples of past posting are only discovered by accident, since “self reporting” is not currently done by tracks or tote companies. I happened to learn about an episode of past posting on a race from Philadelphia Park, and it has been frustrating trying to get an answer from the tracks involved or the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau on how it occurred, whether it was human or technology error, how widespread it was and what has been done to prevent its reoccurrence. Mike Maloney has been unable to get answers from the Louisiana Racing Commission on why past-post betting occurred on a race from Fair Grounds while he was simulcast betting at Keeneland. There is a circle the wagons mentality when it comes to disclosing these problems.
4) I am not aware of Mike Maloney trying to sell equipment as you suggest. If you have evidence of that, please reply in a private email or here in a public comment
5) as to your “failing to understand” how an occasional post-starting gate bet is of concern to anybody, please consider the impact a few tainted Tylenol pills had on millions of consumers in the 1980s or how a half-dozen envelopes containing anthrax affected the entire postal system a few years ago.
This is a telling quote about past-post wagering from Chris Scherf, head of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America at the simulcast conference: “To be in the betting industry and say, ‘We can’t assure you we can close betting,’ just isn’t acceptable.â€
This quote from Peter Berube of Tampa Bay Downs at the same conference: “We have to get the confidence of the bettors back.”
Thanks for the inquiry. I hope this helps you better understand the issue.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
How you can pick yourself up off the mat after this weekend’s debacle and be back at work is a testament to your intestinal fortitude. I am still in the fetal position.
My hat is off to you sir.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Winston … To borrow (mangle?) a phrase from Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley: “Being a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan is not a game for little boys in short pants.”
We gain experience and character through their perpetual losing.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Congress should amend the Horseracing Act and force the creation of a central governing body for the sport. Racing, as currently configured and administered in all the various jurisdictions around the country, is incapable of rational self-regulation.
The ball is in too many courts.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Noelle, you are so right about that ball in too many courts and now they are playing dodge ball with it in Kentucky. Considering the fact, that the vast majority of thoroughbreds are bred in Kentucky one would assume that at least this one state would have it’s act together. I think most of us knew that all the national attention and “talk” after the Derby this year was just that, talk! But at least we had a glimmer of hope for a while that things might change for the better, but it looks like that flicker of light at the end of the tunnel may be growing dim.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Rapid, I would wager that as far as the group prosecuted for the Breeders Cup Pick 6 bet that was not the first time they successfully performed this fraud. I would venture to say they experimented with this prior to their big pay day. Their greed and stupidity got the best of them, which is sometimes the case.
One should not criticize those bringing to the forefront problems within this sport. It is no secret that doping is out of control. As far as the post race betting, where there is one bad apple………….
I’m a fan and I’m pissed.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Isn’t anyone concerned - or “pissed” about the members of the subcommittee failing to show for their first meeting? Come on… get rid of them and get some people who care.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
ratherrapid:
Wow get a clue…The only reason the Fix 6 Boys were caught was their own stupidity. The tote system has MAJOR flaws and needs to be fixed. The fact that it has not after such a major intrusion pretty tells you where this industry is.
And yes, I’m a “core fan” and I am pissed.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
i agree that past posting goes on. what do we do about it? organize a boycott?
October 7th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
The P6 boys were snagged by Volponi! Had Medaglia d’Oro won there would have been alot of tickets out there to the winner (by Cup P6 standards) and they could have blended in. They were only noticed because they were the only winners and that got people looking into the structure of the ticket.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Past posting may also be a “tool” avalable to the pari-mutual managers at the various wagering venues. Laying off held bets into the pool after the race has started and the outcome apears more clear, or cancelling bets on horses that have fallen out the back. Who in this case is cheated? All the other bettors whose odds will be effected. And of course, “integrity” or fair minded betting is non-existent if this is the case. Maybe the tracks that enage the TRPB are the reason it’s hard to get definitive information on what’s going on?
October 8th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Let us face it: this is not the most urgent problem in racing. Moreover, surely it is relatively easy to cure. Why not close all off-track betting “windows” five minutes before the published post time? At the host track, windows can remain open until the first horse is loaded or the gate opens - let the track decide.
The entire concept of pari-mutuel betting is a major part of the problem. When the bettor who makes a wager early gets the same payoff as the last-second bettor, it is an invitation to crooked minds. With all the technology available it should be comparitively easy to set up a bookmaking system that pays the odds prevailing when a bet is placed.
That requires someone to make the book. If the track does not wish to be the bookmaker, call in one of the Las Vegas outfits. They know how to keep gambling straight and to catch and punish offenders. That is why more and more people are in casinos, not at the race track.
If one possible objection is that our laws do not permit tracks to make book, then will someone tell me why it is legal to guarantee a minimum pot for Pick 6 ?
October 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Thank you Ray for the follow up story on this issue and thank you for the PR.
I would assume it’s not easy, but then again being a cub fan isn’t either.
The industry as a whole; fans, leaders and followers are lucky to have you.
Thank you.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Past Posting is just ONE of a myriad of ways bettors can get the proverbial shaft. Closing week @ Evangeline Downs, I had a HUGE Dime Super.. One Winning Ticket, after I was DQ’d. Been trying to have Evangeline Downs say WHERE the wining Dime Super was purchased, since it was VERY ODD for a Trainer to lodge an objection for 4th & 5th place, since the purse gross difference is $600.Getting info from some tracks seems impossible!
Ever been DQ’d out of a win by a Trainers Objection?
The Worst Beat in the History of Dime Supers.
I got DQ’d on a TRAINER’S OBJECTION in the 5th@EvangelineDowns Wednesday night,Aug.27th!
I bet a Dime Super Part-Wheel, 5th@EVG:(all)(1,2,4)(3)(1,2,4)=$5.40
The horses crossed the wire 11~2~3~4.
The #11 is 33/1…the #2 is 9/1…the #3 is 18/1…& the #4, 6/1…
The tote board glowed my magic numbers for a good 90 seconds..then… the dreaded announcement by the track announcer;
“Hold All Tickets…We have a claim of foul…by the TRAINER of the fifth place finisher, number nine…against the Fourth Place finisher, #4…”
Have you EVER seen a trainers claim of foul result in a DQ?
(and For 4th & 5th Place Yet???)
ME Either! Well, after 5 minutes, I saw one I didn’t want to!
——Results, after DQ:
1st~ 11-Lil Initiative——-$69.80—$35.20—$17.00
2nd~ 2-Bitsy’s Parade Day———-$10.00—–$7.20
3rd~ 3-Kipper Zak———————————-$11.40
4th~ 9-Adorable Prospect
—$1.00 EXACTA 11-2 $366.40 ~ $2.00 QUINELLA 2-11 $248.00 ~ $1.00 TRIFECTA 11-2-3 $6269.40
$1.00 SUPERFECTA 11-2-3-9 $206,774.20 ~
($20,677.42 for the Dime…One of MY Dimes… for 90 seconds!)
October 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
[...] (July-September) fell by almost 10%. The decline is not surprising, but it virtually confirms something I wrote the other day saying that U.S. handle for 2008 will be at its lowest level since 1999. Don’t look for [...]