Posts Tagged ‘scientific games’
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Betting windows at 33 simulcast sites remained open on Saturday’s Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood Park until after the Grade 3 stakes race had been run because they did not receive a stop betting signal from the Scientific Games tote system that contracts with California racetracks to handle pari-mutuel wagering.
According to Eual Wyatt Jr., the Inglewood, Calif., track’s general manager, all of the money wagered at those sites – properly or improperly—was “thrown out of the pools” and refunded. Wyatt did not know the amount. He said the 33 simulcast sites all went through a single betting hub. (Click here to view the sites affected and the amount wagered at those sites.)
The incident is under investigation by the California Horse Racing Board.
The past-post wagering was first reported by Mike Maloney, a Lexington, Ky.-based professional horseplayer and industry watchdog on betting issues, in an article posted on the Horseplayers Association of North America web site. Maloney, a frequent speaker at industry gatherings on the issue of integrity of totalizator systems, was recently named vice president of HANA.
Terry McWilliams, a West Coast representative for Scientific Games Racing (formerly Autotote), would not comment on Saturday’s betting irregularities, saying, “I am not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. “ McWilliams referred the Paulick Report to a corporate spokesperson who did not immediately return a phone call. Scientific Games Racing president Brooks Pierce also could not be reached for comment.
Here is one explanation of the incident provided to Hollywood Park officials by George Brannen, Western Regional Director of Scientific Games Racing, in an email provided by the California Horse Racing Board to the Paulick Report. “At stop betting of race 9 for Hollywood Park we were not receiving pools from a group of 33 imports,” Brennan wrote. “All of these import processes were running on the Slave system. We had 7 other systems in the room wagering on Hollywood and of those 4 were on the Slave system and did not get the stop betting message from the California tote. The other 3 systems imports that were on the Master system did get the stop betting and shipped pools final on time. Because of this we were pretty sure that a stop betting message was not sent to any of the 33 imports and made the decision to clear and close those 33 sites. We then stopped the Slave system, promoted the Clone to become Slave, restarted all the Golden Gate imports that were also hung on the old Slave so that Golden Gate would not be delayed. A more detailed report will follow.”
“This is my first recollection of this (type of wagering irregularity),” Wyatt said. “The good thing is whatever mechanical error occurred, it was discovered and those bets didn’t count.”
At least that’s what Scientific Games apparently is telling Hollywood Park officials. This isn’t the first irregularity in California regarding the tote company, which in 2008 agreed to a settlement with the California Horse Racing Board over software errors related to “quick pick” wagers. Scientific Games knew of the software flaws for months, yet failed to notify the tracks or CHRB. It wasn’t until a horseplayer discovered the flaws while making “quick pick” superfecta wagers on the 2008 Kentucky Derby that the software problem was made public.
Other Scientific Games tote problems have been reported in other states, including a Philadelphia Park past posting incident last June 28 when wagering sites in Florida did not receive a stop-betting signal from a Scientific Games hub. Maloney reported a past-posting incident on a race originating at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, which also used Scientific Games. The most infamous Scientific Games/Autotote incident, however, involved the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Pick Six scandal when company employees hacked into the system to make Pick Six wagers long after the betting cutoff and took home the entire pool.
Kirk Breed, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, has ordered an investigation by his agency into the latest Scientific Games mistake. “I have read Scientific Games’ explanation and did not understand what it said,” said Breed. “It is their fault. They basically said it’s a malfunction, and I accept that as their malfunction, so they are taking responsibility. They’re the ones that are going to be charged with responding to whoever lost money or was left out.”
Is Breed satisfied that the past-post wagers on the Los Angeles Handicap were excluded from the pools? “I don’t know. I’m not satisfied with anything at this stage,” he said. “All I have is an explanation from Scientific Games sent to Eual at Hollywood Park and which he sent it to me immediately. He and I talked yesterday. Frankly, I do not understand what they are talking about.
“It’s like the quick-pick," Breed added. “It had been going on for nine months and they didn’t do anything about it and didn’t tell us about it. This is why we are trying to get some real-time monitoring in this state so we can have an independent source looking at our wagering, rather than depending on Scientific Games.”
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: breeders, breeders' cup pick six scandal, California Horse Racing Board, CHRB, eual wyatt, hana, Hollywood Park, Horse Racing, horseplayers association of north america, kirk breed, mike maloney, pari-mutuel wagering, past-posting, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, scientific games
Posted in California, Regulatory Issues, Tote System, Wagering | 26 Comments »
Monday, October 13th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Under normal circumstances, handle on the 2008 Breeders’ Cup World Championships would blow past all previous betting records. But the economic crisis gripping the United States and many other countries is anything but normal.
This year’s World Championships take place over two days at Santa Anita Park Oct. 24-25 and includes 14 Breeders’ Cup races, up from the 11 held at Monmouth Park in 2007 when the event was first expanded to two days. Last year’s two-day handle was a Breeders’ Cup record $147 million ($31.5 million on the Friday card and $115.7 million on Saturday), but the total was below expectations by at least 10% because of the extremely wet weather conditions. The previous all-sources wagering record was set in 2006 when $140.3 million was wagered on eight Breeders’ Cup races on a single day at Churchill Downs.
Ken Kirchner, the president of FalKirk International and the longtime wagering consultant to the Breeders’ Cup, wouldn’t make any predictions about this year’s handle. “It’s hard to say where the economy is going to be in 10 days,” Kirchner told the Paulick Report. “Everybody has been down between 10% and 20% in wagering all summer and fall. Things can change quickly, but certainly the trend isn’t good.”
Kirchner hopes some fans have been stockpiling a bankroll for the big event. “It’s not a positive situation,” he said, “but we’re going to have very strong and full fields and some people may just be waiting for this as opposed to betting the run-of-the-mill races.”
Holding the Breeders’ Cup’s traditional dirt races on a synthetic surface doesn’t bother Kirchner. “The new (Pro-Ride) track seems to be playing fair,” he said. “If the horses show up, the bettors will follow.
Kirchner did say scheduling the Breeders’ Cup on the last weekend of the month is a disadvantage because of consumer spending habits. “Having it at the beginning of the month (when Social Security and other fixed income checks arrive) makes it 3% to 5% stronger,” he said.
The Breeders’ Cup had the first $100-million wagering day in North American racing history Nov. 6, 1999, at Gulfstream Park. That was the year the Filly & Mare Turf was added, making it an eight-race championship.
By comparison, Kentucky Derby day betting topped $100 million for the first time in 2000, and it’s grown significantly since. Churchill Downs now holds the North American record of $175 million established on the 2006 Kentucky Derby program. Add wagering from Friday’s Kentucky Oaks program ($33 million in 2006), and the total tops $208 million.
It’s clear the Breeders’ Cup braintrust is trying to emulate the success of the Friday Oaks/Saturday Derby format at Churchill Downs by bundling all of the filly and mare races on this year’s Friday program (and by requiring fans to purchase seats for both days as Churchill Downs has done with the Oaks and Derby). The Breeders’ Cup doesn’t have the cachet of the Kentucky Derby (or the Oaks for that matter), though that doesn’t mean the new format will not work.
With the additional Breeders’ Cup races, better weather and a more traditional big race venue (Santa Anita vs. Monmouth Park), handle will increase this year. My prediction is for $175 million in wagers over the two championship days. Without all the economic uncertainty, $200 million would seem realistic.
SPEAKING OF BETTING, REMEMBER THAT JUNE 28 RACE AT PHILADELPHIA PARK when wagers were allowed at some Florida simulcast sites after the race had been run? The Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau issued a report and sent it to the tracks involved – Philadelphia Park and Tampa Bay Downs – but according to Peter Berube, Tampa Bay’s vice president and general manager, he still doesn’t understand exactly how the Philly Park past-post bets occurred.
“I have the report,” Berube told the Paulick Report last week. “It’s highly technical but draws no conclusions and places no blame on anybody. Apparently it was a sequence of events that took place between the tote companies.”
Scientific Games (formerly Autotote), which handles wagers for Philadelphia Park, was experiencing technical problems with its system that day at races from Philly and Delaware Park. Tampa Bay Downs and 11 other North Florida wagering sites (dog tracks and jai-alai frontons) use AmTote. A communications breakdown between the systems failed to send a stop-bet signal to AmTote.
Joe Wilson, chief operating officer of Philadelphia Park, did not return phone calls seeking a comment.
According to Berube, the past-post wagering was limited to his track, with most of the past-post bets placed by one customer, who is known as a big bettor at Tampa Bay. “What’s in the report would lead me to believe that there was no abnormal spike in bets overall,” Berube said. “We were the 14th ranked site in terms of total bets (on the fourth race, the race in question), but first in cashes. We were the only site that had a negative settlement (with more winnings that money wagered).”
Berube said he interviewed the horseplayer who allegedly made the past-post wagers but allowed him to collect on his winning bets. “We brought people in and spoke with them but after Philadelphia Park priced the race I couldn’t tell them to give us the money back.
“I’ve been here 15 years and have never experienced anything like this before,” said Berube, whose father, Paul Berube, is the former head of the TRPB.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: amtote, Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup wagering, falkirk international, joe wilson, ken kirchner, kentucky derby, kentucky oaks, pari-mutuel wagering, past-post betting, past-post wagering, peter berube, Philadelphia park, santa anita park, scientific games, tampa bay downs, thoroughbred racing protective bureau
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Horse Racing, Synthetic surfaces, Wagering | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
The fourth race at Philadelphia Park June 28 was just a run-of-the-mill claiming contest until the Scientific Games totalizator system malfunctioned shortly after Magical American crossed the finish line as the winner. The top three finishers (4-2-3) were put on the board, but the problems with the tote delayed Philadelphia Park from making the race official and posting the payoffs. The fifth race at the Pennsylvania track was run without betting.
A little over a thousand miles away at Tampa Bay Downs on Florida’s Gulf Coast, some horseplayers became curious about what impact the tote failure had on the AmTote wagering machines there.
Lo and behold, they discovered wagers made on the winning horses in Philadelphia Park’s fourth race were still being accepted. The Paulick Report has learned that players started punching out win tickets, exactas and trifectas. The delay, from the time the Philadelphia Park race was run until someone in the Tampa Bay mutuels department realized there was a problem, was about 10 minutes, at which time betting was halted. It was nearly 15 minutes from the time the race was run until the Florida track received a stop betting order from Scientific Games (formerly Autotote).
In the meantime, a considerable amount of money was bet on what can only be described as a horseplayer’s dream: a “sure thing.” It was free money.
One player bet $1,000 on his own: $500 to win and a $500 exacta. He got a tidy return of $8,100 when the system was up and running later that afternoon. In all, Tampa Bay took in $2,000 in wagers on the race and paid out more than $13,000 to the lucky (if somewhat dishonest) fans.
The past-post wagers went into the betting pools at Philadelphia Park, shortening payoffs for those who picked the winning combinations honestly. Though the size of the pools for the race were not unusually large, it appears the winner’s odds were driven down by the past-post bets.
One bet that would not be affected was the daily double on races three and four, which paid $32.40 after a 7-10 odds-on favorite won the third race. (Bets on the daily double would have been made prior to the third race.) That payoff suggests Magical American should have gone off at odds of about 8-1. But when the payoffs were posted, Magical American paid only $9.20 on a $2 win bet.
“We are aware of the situation,” Curtis Linnell, director of wagering analysis for the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, told the Paulick Report. “It looks like it may have been isolated to Tampa. It didn’t look like it was widespread.”
Linnell said he could not comment further because the circumstances are under review.
The stop betting signal is part of the standard protocol established for pari-mutuel wagering, according to Linnell. The signal goes from the host track to other hubs or tote systems handling wagers going into the host track pool. He said a “break” in the communications signals could prevent the stop betting signal from going out.
“That situation can happen, and in very isolated situations it has,” Linnell said.
Joe Wilson, the chief operating officer of Philadelphia Park, did not return phone calls to the Paulick Report seeking comment. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said the matter is being investigated.
This issue begs the question of who is minding the tote, a patchwork, less-than-state-of-the-art wagering network that handles the approximate $15-billion in bets each year and flows through racetracks, hubs, guest hubs, off-track betting sites, account wagering systems, and off-shore rebate shops?
State racing commissions look into these matters, but in this case the wagers were made across state lines. The TRPB has an investigative branch, but it is more concerned with tracking wagering patterns that could suggest race-fixing by racing participants. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association did have its focus on wagering integrity, particularly after the Breeders’ Cup Pick Six scandal of 2002. Plans were announced by the NTRA to staff an Office of Wagering Integrity, but those plans went by the wayside when the industry could not reach a consensus on what to do.
Alex Waldrop, the current head of the NTRA, said during a recent Congressional hearing that racing is not a rudderless ship. But there doesn’t appear to be anyone with his hands on the wheel of the most important boat in the racing industry’s fleet – the tote system.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: alex waldrop, amtote, curtis linnell, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Paulick Report, pennsylvania horse racing commission, Philadelphia park, Ray Paulick, scientific games, tampa bay downs, thoroughbred racing protective bureau, totalizator, Tote System, trpb
Posted in Regulatory Issues, Tote System, Wagering | 8 Comments »
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