They\'re handled on a delayed basis as well, according to Patrick Mahoney of Calder in a tv report which I didn\'t see but have read about. Those of you who are operating on the assumption that none of this applies because you\'re not a pk6 player need to think again. Interesting, isn\'t it, to compare Weil & Co\'s pronouncements on all of their security precautions to the description in Hegarty\'s article today of Harn by himself on weekends at an abandoned bldg with no guards, locks or anything else. And Weil is absolutely certain that there is no chance whatsoever that this has ever happened before. The most interesting new fact, however, appears in Drape\'s article, which indicates that investigators & officials think that \"at least one other person may have aided Harn and Davis.\" What do you think the chances are that he or she or them have a connection to Catskill OTB?
Mall-
I agree that the task force won\'t be as effective as it needs to be without a major push. My recommendation is to write a serious, articulate letter to the editor at DRF. I don\'t know how many remember this, but a few years ago, before there was an NTRA, there was a move afoot to raise money for an industry marketing plan by raising the takeout (!). There was absolute lethargy on the part of the bettors until I started writing letters to the Form. The lobbyist for the other side started writing letters in response, and over the course of a few weeks we ended up going at it pretty good. Eventually George White jumped in, then others, until the volume got pretty loud, and the idea got dropped.
Everyone in the industry reads the Form. If you want to leverage your voice, mobilize the bettors, and get the attention of industry heads, that\'s the place to start.
1. Matt Hegarty\'s article today confirms what I said early yesterday morning about the pk4s & supers, but it turns out that it goes beyond those bets. As a result of reviewing posts on a site which a regular contributor to this Bd recommended(thanks again), I learned that all of the bets which are handled on a delayed basis, as well as how they are handled between the host & remote sites, are explained in pages 10-11 & 28-32 of a document entitled Inter Tote System Protocol. Believe it or not, it\'s available to one & all on the TRA site in case, as one clever gentleman pointed out, you want to start your own tote system at home. To me, it seems like a starting point blueprint for hacking into a system which Autotote is saying cannot be hacked into. Didn\'t the guys who hacked into the Defense Dept & IBM say that it was just such statements, which they interpreted as a challenge, which motivated them?
2. There had to be a way for Harn to identify the bet he ended up changing. Published reports indicate that each bet is assigned a serial or account number, but it is unclear if that same system is used for telephone betting. Once the system used to track telephone bets is known, the particulars of how they pulled off the scam & who else was involved, should be a lot clearer.
3. Both have lawyered up, as they say on tv crime shows, & I have seen some comments that it is interesting that Harn ends up with a Long Island attorney who claims on his website that he has experience representing organized crime. As far as I can tell, such experience is very limited, & in fact the lawyer seems to spend a great deal of his time defending DUIs & being a political candidate for the Libertarian Party.
4. Thanks for the heads up HP, though the problem with these calls is that you can only ask questions if you are a financial analyst. Insofar as it is possible, Beyer captured them pretty well in one of his recent columns.
5. JB: The idea of a letter writing campaign is a good one & I hope everyone who reads your post takes you up on it, though I honestly think that such a letter might compromise some of what I\'m trying to accomplish behind the scenes.
6. For those looking for a narrow topic for such a letter, how about the idea while Mr Quinn is a great guy & his books are fine, confidence is not going to be restored because he is part of the task force. I don\'t know him personally, but have read that he is a \"brother can you spare a dime\" kind of character around the track, and that some of what he has said demonstrates a lack of understanding of the basic principles of physics. In truth, those things don\'t really matter to me, because what this task force needs is someone who is known to be a major player himself and/or an advocate players. If you send a letter, don\'t be shy about identifying who that might be.
Please don\'t drag Libertarians into this.
From what I know of Quinn he is a nice guy, but he is employed by at least one racetrack to give seminars on a regular basis. We need someone who owes the tracks nothing so the bettors can feel that no-one has an incentive to sweep anything under the rug.
Depending on what happens over the next few days, I might be writing a letter myself.
What about this, as a simple solution going forward-- stop betting when they start to load, and record all bets at that time on a disc which is kept outside the computer, and read on a different computer.
Why wait until they load the horses? Why not stop betting a minute or two prior to post to ensure that the last odds change occurs BEFORE the gates open (as was suggested by Crist and others). That would still leave a fair playing field for all and would help restore confidence in the \"visible\" odds wagers. Any late changes under those circumstances would be undoubtedly suspicious.
Regarding the \"delayed\" wagers (basically all the wagers that you have to bet \"blindly\" - even more blindly than most of us ever realized...) the industry needs to update the software/hardware to support the needed higher bandwidth. If Youbet and others can provide streaming video to thousands of computers across the country for every race, then I think the tote/remote wagering hubs can probably send a few extra numbers along with the wagering amounts for the Pick-6 and Supers back to the host track.
I agree that this is THE opportunity for the NTRA to actually play a visible, valuable role. If those in power in the NTRA really think their organization is viable, this is their chance to truly represent all the stakeholders in the industry to address a immediate critical problem that jeopardizes the future of racing.
Chris
Either the Meadowlands or Monmouth until a few years ago locked up the system as soon as the gate closed on the first horse that loaded. Pretty sure it was one of those two tracks. Don\'t know why it was changed. At the time they were the only ones doing it.
I recall when California did not take trifectas as they were afraid of a scandal. When did New York start to take trifecta wagers?
Would be interesting to see what would happen if some track would test to see what would happen if they only offered win & place wagers and skip the exotic bets during the test. Do to the reduced takeout on straight wagers it might work out.