46zilzal
01-29-2008, 02:58 PM
Years ago Frontline did a show called "The Other Side of the Track" which focused on many things the casual fan would not consider. One aspect of that show reviewed the NYRA's staff assigned to monitor the wagering and how their organization, and others (as they reviewed a betting scam at the Great Barrington Fair) could tell, based upon betting pattern analysis, when suspected cheating occurred. Fascinating.
I sought out our federal representative of the Department of Agriculture's Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (my de facto boss) and was able to "sit in" on a monitoring session.
Unlike the U.S. where state and local agencies monitor the wagering, in Canada it is federal with offices in Ottawa and a test farm in Ontario where they keep about 30 standard breds in training, and utilize them as testers in evaluation of new medication's clearance from the actively trained horse. From this data, they put out a yearly booklet for trainers to establish baselines for knowing when it was safe to administer a drug with the known assurance of the time period before the dose had cleared the system.
They establish and monitor the race video surveillance and have a betting analysis team, at each venue, that analyzes ALL wagering, both on site and from wagering hubs. They are in process of reducing the number of hubs since I was told that "the more the electronic transmission between source and destination, the more chance for electronic cheating." The analysis team provide early detection of fraudulent betting patterns with members trained in betting analysis and fraud detection.
I tracked down the chief federal regulator at our course after he had just returned from testifying as a prosecution expert witness in Arizona. He and his staff have worked on many a national syndicate betting scam including the Breeder's Cup national pick 7 a few years ago.
The paperwork and ongoing computer evaluations of betting is downright spooky. With each betting area under video surveillance and the almost instantaneous feedback from the specially designed software, the team can tell in a few minutes (and have the face that went with the bet, even if it were off track- which they can call up from another source camera off track) not only if there is a bet suggestive of fraud, but WHO made it too.
One of the current scams is teams making several large bets (like in the movie The Grifters) to create a false board favorite, then canceling them after the crowd has gotten a whiff of what they "think" is inside money and they jump on the bandwagon. The program alarms come on if these patterns are above a certain $$$ threshold, but every canceled bet is recorded (most are simple mistakes).
Two weeks ago we had a $125,000 show bet at our course traced to a track in New Jersey. BEFORE the race was run, the team had contacted the hub, identified the gambler (it was discovered he was a lawyer well known to the NJ circuit who often bets over $100, 000 to show), and was prepared to take action if necessary.
Our mutuel's manager, who works with the team, tells me that the Australian races are being besieged with major syndicates from Australia, wagering into the local, not co-mingled pools, in an attempt to get better odds away from the course. So far, they have not been all that effective since the pools here remain small, but their presence is now officially on the radar.
Want to try and cheat? The odds are really stacked against you.
I sought out our federal representative of the Department of Agriculture's Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (my de facto boss) and was able to "sit in" on a monitoring session.
Unlike the U.S. where state and local agencies monitor the wagering, in Canada it is federal with offices in Ottawa and a test farm in Ontario where they keep about 30 standard breds in training, and utilize them as testers in evaluation of new medication's clearance from the actively trained horse. From this data, they put out a yearly booklet for trainers to establish baselines for knowing when it was safe to administer a drug with the known assurance of the time period before the dose had cleared the system.
They establish and monitor the race video surveillance and have a betting analysis team, at each venue, that analyzes ALL wagering, both on site and from wagering hubs. They are in process of reducing the number of hubs since I was told that "the more the electronic transmission between source and destination, the more chance for electronic cheating." The analysis team provide early detection of fraudulent betting patterns with members trained in betting analysis and fraud detection.
I tracked down the chief federal regulator at our course after he had just returned from testifying as a prosecution expert witness in Arizona. He and his staff have worked on many a national syndicate betting scam including the Breeder's Cup national pick 7 a few years ago.
The paperwork and ongoing computer evaluations of betting is downright spooky. With each betting area under video surveillance and the almost instantaneous feedback from the specially designed software, the team can tell in a few minutes (and have the face that went with the bet, even if it were off track- which they can call up from another source camera off track) not only if there is a bet suggestive of fraud, but WHO made it too.
One of the current scams is teams making several large bets (like in the movie The Grifters) to create a false board favorite, then canceling them after the crowd has gotten a whiff of what they "think" is inside money and they jump on the bandwagon. The program alarms come on if these patterns are above a certain $$$ threshold, but every canceled bet is recorded (most are simple mistakes).
Two weeks ago we had a $125,000 show bet at our course traced to a track in New Jersey. BEFORE the race was run, the team had contacted the hub, identified the gambler (it was discovered he was a lawyer well known to the NJ circuit who often bets over $100, 000 to show), and was prepared to take action if necessary.
Our mutuel's manager, who works with the team, tells me that the Australian races are being besieged with major syndicates from Australia, wagering into the local, not co-mingled pools, in an attempt to get better odds away from the course. So far, they have not been all that effective since the pools here remain small, but their presence is now officially on the radar.
Want to try and cheat? The odds are really stacked against you.