Homegrown Batch Betting via TwinSpires.com

[PaceAdvantage]

This is a repost from a recent thread of mine in the Handicapping Software section....I didn't get much in the way of a response, so I'm looking for more visibility by putting it here...I can't believe I'm the only one trying to do this:

OK, as many of you know, I wrote a program that automatically places wagers for me through BrisBet based on post time and off-odds. If a horse is above my odds threshold, and it's 0MTP, it places the bet.....simple....

Don't have to sit in front of the PC, etc. etc. Lots of benefits....UNTIL....Twinspires bought BrisBET.....

They've changed a number of things, and my code is all messed up. I've used some HTTP debuggers like Fiddler and Charles, and I have a good idea what they've done, but I have to think there are others out there who have gone through what I am going through, and perhaps they have already figured this out.....

My program is written in VB6, so I am using the INET control to do most of the interraction between my program and their servers.

I believe Twinspires has switched to a PHP program to handle the wagers, which would require me to use the POST command with INET.EXECUTE.

Anyone else out there doing what I'm trying to do? If so, reply in this thread, or contact me through private message or email with possible coding suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

On a side note, I shouldn't have to be doing this myself. All the online wagering services SHOULD BE GIVING ME THIS KIND OF FUNCTIONALITY BY DEFAULT!! (The only one who IS giving this kind of functionality is Premier Turf Club....hopefully, others will follow....)

Batch betting is a very nice selling point. I'm sure it's helped Premier Turf Club's business...it's very easy to implement....why are all the other online providers so stuck in reverse when it comes to providing us with MORE ability?

Where is the innovation? This is a no-brainer in my opinion.

[Premier Turf Club]

Where is the innovation? This is a no-brainer in my opinion.


Save us, there isn't any.

A customer, and a friend of mine said something this morning along the lines of "...being leaps and bounds beyond any other ADW in terms of innovation should mean you've gotten a lot of customers from PA, and a lot of high tech players in general."

You would think so, but that hasn't been the case. Don't mean to beat a dead horse (no pun intended), but once we institute minimums we will enforce them. Those signing up and playing now will be grandfathered.

[DJofSD]

And, what's the situation with getting a license in California, Ian?

[PaceAdvantage]

And, what's the situation with getting a license in California, Ian?Please, let's try and keep this to me getting some help with my program, and/or ADW innovations, such as batch betting.

[formula_2002]

Please, let's try and keep this to me getting some help with my program, and/or ADW innovations, such as batch betting.
PA, I will gladly sit by my computer all day long and batch bet for you or any other, for 1% of the wagered dollar :)
:)

[PaceAdvantage]

PA, I will gladly sit by my computer all day long and batch bet for you or any other, for 1% of the wagered dollar :)
:)There's no way you could be as efficient.

[pktruckdriver]

Am I reading this right, you're upset and stumped by the new software programming at twinspires.com will not allow you to match batch bets, which I conclude are automatic bets your computer makes for on any horse that fits your betting requirements, right?


Man I have heard it all, now this is lazy. If I were betting online, which I do, I'd never let myself be out of the equation because of the mistakes made by the computer, the computer, like double bets, etc....


Maybe your program does not allow for that, but I did not allow for it , but got them anyway.


By the way how do you do on your automatic betting, if you don't mind me asking??

Patrick

[xtb]

Man I have heard it all, now this is lazy.

Patrick


For some of us, this game is about making money and if that means using whatever tools we have at our disposal to make it happen it is called being smart, not lazy. With 100's of races a day, how many do you think you could monitor up to 0mtp?

[pktruckdriver]

Ok, my bad, not lazy but smart, I just do not see turning your betting over to your computer, rather lazy or not.

1st. 100's of races to bet, sounds too many for me, or anyone really.

2nd. Now of course this is true, y'all are probally betting that many races each day, for which I do not doubt, but who's keeping track of them being done correctly??

3rd. Must be one heckuva a program to pick your bets and then make them for you too, where do I get a copy?? ( just kidding)

4th. It must work it you keep doing it, for that I must give my congrats, heck I bet only 4-12 races a day and still not profit, always. Somedays I do ok.

5th. Sorry I got off your topic, so I'll quit now, but do find this amazing, Big Brother has been here longer than I thought, right?

Patrick

Don't take things so personally, curiousity is sometimes like a kid with questions, many questions that only kids can come up with.

[formula_2002]

There's no way you could be as efficient.

What if I guarenteed the bet ?
All for, say a 1% commission plus a $200 a month service fee.
Perhaps this would qualify as a hedge fund
It would give new purpose to long term capital plays.
I'll change the name to LONG TERM CAPITAL SERVICE

[PaceAdvantage]

Why would I pay you for something I've already done myself, and when I find a few hours, will undoubtedly fix...

I was being lazy...I was hoping someone else out there had already solved my problem....

[PaceAdvantage]

By the way how do you do on your automatic betting, if you don't mind me asking??

PatrickThe same as my non-automatic betting.

However, automatic betting allows me to step away from the computer at a whim, and also allows me to bet all the races that qualify under my rules.

Since my program stopped working, I've had to go back to manual wagering, which means I'm getting shut out a lot more often trying to handle 6-10 tracks at one time.

There's no danger of double betting or mistakenly betting my entire account balance on a single race because I have programmed in safeguards to guarantee something like that doesn't happen.

[JustRalph]

Am I reading this right, you're upset and stumped by the new software programming at twinspires.com will not allow you to match batch bets, which I conclude are automatic bets your computer makes for on any horse that fits your betting requirements, right?


Man I have heard it all, now this is lazy. If I were betting online, which I do, I'd never let myself be out of the equation because of the mistakes made by the computer, the computer, like double bets, etc....


Maybe your program does not allow for that, but I did not allow for it , but got them anyway.


By the way how do you do on your automatic betting, if you don't mind me asking??

Patrick

So, you step up to the plate and call the guy who owns the board lazy?

You don't know what the hell you are talking about or anything about how other people use their computers to place bets. Come on Man? Let me fill you in. There are some very sophisticated individuals on this board who program their own code, sell very sophisticated software and deal with million dollar a year players every day. Yet you jump in here after 30 posts and call the boss lazy............not knowing that there are years worth of threads and posts on batch betting and related computer apps etc. There are guys who post on this board who have worked on software together for over ten years. They pre-date broadband and go back to local bulletin board services in several different parts of the country. Some of these guys were connecting with 2400 baud modems and sharing info back in the day, yet you jump in and lay on PA for throwing up a flare to some of these guys............??? Come on trucker................browse a while..................

[GameTheory]

So, you step up to the plate and call the guy who owns the board lazy?

You don't know what the hell you are talking about or anything about how other people use their computers to place bets. Come on Man? Let me fill you in. There are some very sophisticated individuals on this board who program their own code, sell very sophisticated software and deal with million dollar a year players every day. Yet you jump in here after 30 posts and call the boss lazy............not knowing that there are years worth of threads and posts on batch betting and related computer apps etc. There are guys who post on this board who have worked on software together for over ten years. They pre-date broadband and go back to local bulletin board services in several different parts of the country. Some of these guys were connecting with 2400 baud modems and sharing info back in the day, yet you jump in and lay on PA for throwing up a flare to some of these guys............??? Come on trucker................browse a while..................I wasn't into racing then, only being 12 or so, but I started with 300 baud. I remember getting excited about 1200 baud. I once paid *300 bucks* for a 14.4k baud modem...

[arkansasman]

I bet you Game Theory or SwetyeJohn can help you with your problem.

John

[RonTiller]

PA,

You may as well bite the bullet and figure it out for yourself - so far you've been called lazy, been told you bet too many races, been told (in essence) that your programming skills are not up to doing this with all the proper safeguards, been offered the services of a manual proxy agent, etc., everything BUT answers to your twice posted question (including THIS non-responsive post).

I have used the wininet API in Visual Basic in the past but not to post data. I found instructions on Microsoft's site, after a quick search. Doesn't look particularly challenging assuming you are already familiar with the wininet API coding infrastructure.

On a side note to those who think it is dangerous to let the computer make bets automatically, PA is right - you start out paranoid, assuming that at every step, 10 things can go wrong (including operator error), and then build in redundant safeguards. I automatically process credit cards over the internet through an API - the code to perform the actual charge is one line; the redundant safeguards, auditing, consistency checks, redundant logging and error prevention code is thousands of lines. So I assume PA has covered all the bases as well.

Ron Tiller
HDW

[pktruckdriver]

Well Mr. Bossman:

Thats what they call you, I still have my opinion of not totally trusting the computers intact, yes I do, but am contantly learning about others who are not so paranoid, such as yourself, fine, I guess.

But ,"Lazy", may have been a bit childish and unprofessional, for that I apologize, no really I do apoligize for that, sorry ok.

But to let the computer make my bets, not yet man, I'd rather get shut out, than let the computer do it for me, I'll let the computer help me pick the winner, that is ok for now, but placing it, sorry not yet for me.


Well just had to state that and even this being a computer board, run very well I might add, I have learned alot for the short time I've been browsing the site, a whole lot of new stuff, God knows a lot more for me to learn is still here in the archives, which I do use, by the way, I think they're great.


So please do not think I'm inconsiderate, becuase that is not the case here, sometimes childish, yes, but not inconsiderate, nope not me.

Thank You
Patrick

[formula_2002]

I tried, and actually made some bets with the BETIITANDFORGET progam I wrote a few years back..

I had to give up on it..too many losing plays :)

[GameTheory]

But to let the computer make my bets, not yet man, I'd rather get shut out, than let the computer do it for me, I'll let the computer help me pick the winner, that is ok for now, but placing it, sorry not yet for me.
Let's think about this for a minute. If you login to a betting service and punch in your bet, once you hit the submit button a bunch of computers take over and send it to the host track for you, etc etc. We are just taking this process a bit further (and by the way I did send some help [I think] to the boss, just in private, and I believe I was the one that told him how to do it in the first place way back when so don't let it be said I'm not helpful).

Anyway, whether or not the computer or the human figures out who to bet on and under what circumstances doesn't matter. We are talking about the placing of the bet itself, the most mechanical part of the whole process. So if we have a list of simple conditions (like a certain horse being in a certain odds range at 1 minute to post) under which we will make a bet, why not automate that process which is just pure drudgery anyway? A trained monkey or formula_2002 can handle this part (although it would probably be illegal, a wrinkle in the human proxy plan). So why not just let the computers take over for you sooner than usual? Punch in your potential bets a few hours early and go to the beach or to a real job. What's the big fear?

[formula_2002]

Let's think about this for a minute. If you login to a betting service and punch in your bet, once you hit the submit button a bunch of computers take over and send it to the host track for you, etc etc. We are just taking this process a bit further (and by the way I did send some help [I think] to the boss, just in private, and I believe I was the one that told him how to do it in the first place way back when so don't let it be said I'm not helpful).

Anyway, whether or not the computer or the human figures out who to bet on and under what circumstances doesn't matter. We are talking about the placing of the bet itself, the most mechanical part of the whole process. So if we have a list of simple conditions (like a certain horse being in a certain odds range at 1 minute to post) under which we will make a bet, why not automate that process which is just pure drudgery anyway? A trained monkey or formula_2002 can handle this part (although it would probably be illegal, a wrinkle in the human proxy plan). So why not just let the computers take over for you sooner than usual? Punch in your potential bets a few hours early and go to the beach or to a real job. What's the big fear?
Hey, leave the monkey out of this

I don't need the competion already!!

[skate]

Well, i assume you contacted Twin... and you might have Vista.

So, it could just be a mater of time or it could come down to a right click.

HIWO

[PaceAdvantage]

(and by the way I did send some help [I think] to the boss, just in private, and I believe I was the one that told him how to do it in the first place way back when so don't let it be said I'm not helpful).Yes you did, on both counts! I would have thanked you publicly, but I didn't know if you wanted to keep your helpful side on the down low...

[Gambleonclaimers]

I have tried this exact thing with twinspires except mine isnt really batch betting it just runs off a script when horses meet my selected options from an outside program, I would be interested in how you got batch betting functionality without truly automating the interface maybe I missed something along the way and i've been doing it the hardest way possible. Of course that wouldn't surprise me LOL

[trigger]

Batch betting is a very nice selling point. I'm sure it's helped Premier Turf Club's business...it's very easy to implement....why are all the other online providers so stuck in reverse when it comes to providing us with MORE ability?
Where is the innovation? This is a no-brainer in my opinion.

The reason(s) the other ADW's don't provide these kinds of options (conditional betting, etc.) probably has to do with the potential liability involved if something goes wrong with these types of program(s) and/or the vulnerability to unwarranted claims /lawsuits that such programs may be subject to by (unscrupulous?) people that would cost a lot to defend in court.

[Premier Turf Club]

The reason(s) the other ADW's don't provide these kinds of options (conditional betting, etc.) probably has to do with the potential liability involved if something goes wrong with these types of program(s) and/or the vulnerability to unwarranted claims /lawsuits that such programs may be subject to by (unscrupulous?) people that would cost a lot to defend in court.

It's got nothing to do with that at all and everything to do with having a horseplayer at the controls.

[asH]

Shouldnt this thread be in the programming section??:D

[asH]

PA, or ADMINISTRATOR, what happens after you run your script? error msgs? nothing?

[riskman]

Do any vendors sell a program thats does batch betting for horseracing? Would it have to be specific as to where you are using it, ie, Twin Spires, NYCOTB, Capitol OTB, etc.

Thanks

[PaceAdvantage]

The reason(s) the other ADW's don't provide these kinds of options (conditional betting, etc.) probably has to do with the potential liability involved if something goes wrong with these types of program(s) and/or the vulnerability to unwarranted claims /lawsuits that such programs may be subject to by (unscrupulous?) people that would cost a lot to defend in court.If companies like TRADESTATION can offer AUTOMATED TRADING of STOCKS, FUTURES, FOREX, etc., where you could potentially be risking MILLIONS per trade, then I'm sure ADW's can offer automated betting where people risk, on average, less than $100 per wager....

There is no legal issue involved if people agree to the waiver and understand the risks involved (if any).

[PaceAdvantage]

PA, or ADMINISTRATOR, what happens after you run your script? error msgs? nothing?With the help of GameTheory and Google, I have it up and running again. It still has to be tested for a while to see if it's stable....