Tag: TIF

TIF: Wagering Insecurity, Part 9–Alerts

This is Part 9 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series “Wagering Insecurity.”

Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base–horseplayers–for decades.

“Wagering Insecurity” details some of that neglect, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.

Suspicious betting alerts were generated across five races at one U.S. track in the fourth quarter of 2020.

It was the first time the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) registered such alerts on American racing.

The betting they monitor is through licensed European-based betting operators, many of whom are offering bets on American racing at fixed odds. Up until at least the start of the “Wagering Insecurity” series, no U.S. regulators had an information-sharing relationship with the IBIA.

Worldwide wagering requires worldwide monitoring.

While American customers cannot yet legally partake in such wagers outside a few races booked by Nevada casinos, the practice is soon to come to New Jersey residents and it has been a growing business overseas.

One bookmaker estimates the total handle on U.S. racing at fixed odds for European customers in 2020 at more than $1 billion.

No matter where the wagering takes place, regulators and stewards must be attentive to the potential integrity threats facing the sport.

For the complete article, click here.

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TIF: Wagering Insecurity, Part 8–Damage

This is Part 8 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series “Wagering Insecurity.”

Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base–horseplayers–for decades.

“Wagering Insecurity” details some of that neglect, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.

The Viking Hoard case was clear.

The horse was doped to lose–by whom remains unclear. Betting operators in another country noticed unusual activity and alerted regulators. Bettors, and confidence, were damaged.

“Significant actual damage flowed from the neglect of the trainer. The damage was financial in the case of affected punters, and reputational in the case of the racing industry.”

From 2009 to 2018, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) successfully prosecuted 82 individuals in betting corruption cases, including 12 jockeys. Bet monitoring and systems to flag suspicious bets have featured in many of them.

To what degree is North American racing wagering being monitored?

Australia, Great Britain and Hong Kong are taking this topic seriously.

They have dedicated betting analysis teams, supported by automated systems. They inform stewards of unusual betting patterns or outcomes and institute real time monitoring and share information with other licensed betting operators. These jurisdictions also share best practices with each other.

American oversight at such a level does not exist.

The opportunity for improvement in North America is significant. Until then, the damage imposed on customers will be far worse than nearly any other major racing jurisdiction, where such issues are taken seriously.

For the complete article, click here.

 

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“Wagering Insecurity” – Part 7 – Z

   This is Part 7 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series “Wagering Insecurity.”

   Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads.

   Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity, along with increased transparency of the wagering business and its participants over time. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base–horseplayers–for decades.

   “Wagering Insecurity” details some of that neglect, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.

Transparent oversight of racing has been defunded over decades and customer protection remains weak. North American Thoroughbred racing in the 2020s is saddled with a regulatory infrastructure designed for a sport in the 1970s.

Racing has to change.

Ten years ago, Jockey Club research conducted by McKinsey showed that a minority of racing fans, just 46% of those surveyed, said that they would recommend the sport to others.

“Thoroughbred fans are almost twice as likely to recommend baseball (81%), football (73%), or basketball (77%) to others as they are to recommend Thoroughbred racing.”

There are many reasons for racing's waning appeal among its own fans but the gambling experience is certainly a key one.

Simply getting more eyes on racing is not going to be enough to sustain interest amongst future generations.

While many of racing's existing American customers have long been accustomed to a sport with substandard, haphazard and insufficient oversight, the next generation might not be as forgiving. A 2019 piece by Julie Arbit, Global Senior Vice President, Insights at VICE Media Group, highlighted this burgeoning need among Generation Z, whose oldest members are now in their mid-20s.

“Gen Z is coming of age in a world of infinite choice, and this affects everything from how they define themselves to how they love and how they buy..”

For the complete article, click here.

The post “Wagering Insecurity” – Part 7 – Z appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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TIF: Wagering Insecurity, Part 6–Proof

This is Part 6 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series “Wagering Insecurity.”

Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base–horseplayers–for decades.

“Wagering Insecurity” details some of that neglect, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.

One professional horseplayer suspected betting pools at tracks across America were not closing when they should.

After his pleas were ignored for months, he proved “past-posting” was possible. He bet one race approximately 50 seconds after it had started.

“I thought that would be enough for those in charge to realize that there was a real problem with the tote systems and that now it could get fixed.

“Instead, I was called before two Commission meetings to show cause as to why my racing license shouldn't be revoked. It seemed that more than anything, they wanted to intimidate me and interrogate me, almost like I was a criminal for revealing to them their own systems' failings.”

In 2020, officials changed one long-standing rule which left the past-posting horseplayer flummoxed:

“I can't imagine a system where an update of these protocols would bring us to, hypothetically, a less secure operation.”

Vulnerabilities remain.

Saturday's Kentucky Derby will feature the largest betting pools of the year in American racing. That includes the superfecta pool, which in 2019 topped $16.5 million.

The “late scan” protocol which was exploited by Chris Harn and his conspirators in the 2002 Breeders' Cup Fix Six is still in place today when someone places a superfecta bet on a U.S. race. The full bet detail of each superfecta ticket is not secured by the host track, but rather held back by the bet-taker with only the amount of each bet transmitted.

For the complete article, click here.

 

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