Report: Outlandishly High Pari-Mutual Pools Might Have Been Sparked By FanDuel ‘Glitch’

Outlandishly high amounts of money that were bet into exotic pools at Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks across the country during a several-hour time window Wednesday might have been the result of a feeding frenzy of opportunistic gamblers trying to take advantage of an alleged “glitch” in the FanDuel Racing account wagering system that debited only the base cost of a wager from a customer's account instead of correctly pricing multiple-combination bets at much higher amounts.

Although both FanDuel executives and state regulators were largely mum on the subject of the multi-million-dollar pool spikes as of Thursday afternoon, Ed DeRosa of Horse Racing Nation (HRN) was able to provide insight into the possibility that a profound technological shortcoming might have been the root cause of the massive spike in betting.

DeRosa got the scoop on the potential fraud by publishing screen shots from the account of a now-suspended FanDuel customer who shared betting information from Wednesday under the condition of anonymity.

“The user was able to wheel the entire field for only the cost of the base wager,” DeRosa reported in HRN Nov. 16. “In other words, even though an all-all-all-all dime superfecta in a seven-horse field should cost $84, the bet cost only 10 cents via FanDuel Racing.”

DeRosa further reported that the alleged glitch was made apparent “when five super-exotic wagering pools at four different racetracks handled a historic amount of money, but FanDuel Racing account users exploited the situation in other pools and at other tracks as well.”

Among the Thoroughbred tracks whose pools were inordinately large on Nov. 15 were Churchill Downs, Finger Lakes and Mahoning Valley. The Standardbred tracks Monticello Raceway and The Meadows also reported outsized handles.

Many of the bloated pools were first reported anecdotally on social media by horseplayers on Wednesday afternoon. Although they could only guess as to the possible causes, most folks agreed that the betting handles were far out of line with established norms.

By way of comparison, DeRosa reported in HRN, “Churchill Downs handled $751,000 on the [Nov. 15] race 4 Super High 5, a huge number given that the track handled $967,598 on the bet type for this year's [GI] Kentucky Derby and $118,698 on the [GI] Kentucky Oaks.”

Superfecta and trifecta pools also appeared to have been targeted.

“The two things all the wagers had in common is that they came through FanDuel Racing and involved liberal use of the 'all' button in each position of the wagers,” DeRosa reported.

Prior to HRN revealing the purported glitch, speculation as to the cause of the conspicuously gaudy bets included allegations of money laundering, possible mistakes by computer-robotic wagering players, and misplaced decimal points in the bet-processing code.

On Wednesday, FanDuel Racing put out a statement on that said the company had “identified technical issues and potential fraud related to wagering pools and took the appropriate steps to stop wagering via its platform. This issue is no longer ongoing, and wagering has resumed. The company is undertaking a full review of this matter and will be cooperating with regulatory authorities.”

On Thursday, TDN contacted a FanDuel spokesperson for a follow-up and also emailed commission-level regulators in New York and Kentucky to ask if they were investigating the issue. None of the queries yielded replies prior to deadline for this story.

Curtis Linnell, who is the executive vice president of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TRPB), which monitors integrity and security in the sport, told TDN in a brief phone interview Thursday that he could not discuss specifics beyond explaining that the TRPB is “actively looking at the occurrences on behalf of regulator and racetrack clients who are involved.”

The post Report: Outlandishly High Pari-Mutual Pools Might Have Been Sparked By FanDuel ‘Glitch’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Monmouth Presents 2021 Handleman Award To Matt Shifman

Matt Shifman, senior writer and assistant editor at Horse Racing Nation, has been named the winner of the 2021 Bill Handleman Award for outstanding coverage of last year's TVG.Com Haskell Stakes, Monmouth Park announced today.

First presented in 2012, the Handleman Award honors distinguished media coverage of the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell, Monmouth Park's showcase race. It is presented annually prior to the Haskell.

Shifman, a retired teacher, joined Horse Racing Nation in 2011, using Monmouth Park as his home base and serving as the web site's correspondent for the track. The Metuchen, N.J., resident, a graduate of Case Western Reserve who holds a Master's degree in education from Rutgers, also co-hosts the popular weekly video show HorseCenter.

“We're pleased to formally recognize Matt's long-running association with Monmouth Park and his continued exemplary coverage of the Haskell Stakes with this year's Handleman Award,” said John. F. Heims, Monmouth Park's Director of Racing and Racing Secretary.

The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey's preeminent sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press. Handleman, a fixture at Monmouth Park and a passionate chronicler of the sport, died in June of 2010 at the age of 62.

The first recipient of the Handleman Award was Tom Luicci of The Star-Ledger, followed by Steve Edelson of The Asbury Park Press in 2013, Dave Johnson of Sirius XM in 2014, Ed McNamara of Newsday in 2015, Bob Ehalt of ESPN.com and Bloodhorse in 2016, Tom Cassidy of TVG.com in 2017, Jim Dunleavy of Daily Racing Form in 2018, Mike Farrell of The Associated Press in 2019 and Steve Byk of the daily “At The Races With Steve Byk” radio show last year.

The post Monmouth Presents 2021 Handleman Award To Matt Shifman appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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