Article germane to the discussion here

[BillW]

Thanks to Ron Tiller for finding this and posting it in another forum ...

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/OPINION06/80501042/1016/OPINION

The last half of the interview is of most interest to this forum.

[DJofSD]

This has been the problem: The industry has basically denied that this goes on. In order to prove it to them, I bet tickets during that Fairgrounds race, because the tote company time-stamps it. But it gets more complicated than that, in that when I first tried to document this, the clocks weren't synchronized from the host track to all the other tracks that accept bets around the country. So there's no way of past-posting. The track that ran the race will simply say, "Well, your clocks aren't synchronized to our clocks." So ahead of time, after this happened a couple times, I worked with Keeneland to synchronize clocks to make sure the tracks didn't use that as an excuse. It was a time-consuming thing, but it was done. Keeneland has been very good about this whole thing. They're trying to do the right thing, and they have helped me. And what we have accomplished is we have proven — this happens at every track across the country — but we have shown at major tracks that it's something that actually happens, and they can't deny it anymore.

Kudos to Keenland.

The railroads found a solution to this problem many, many years ago. It was to their benefit to get their clocks synchronized. The US followed up with time zones.

GPS only works because of accurate, synchronized clocks. You can only guess how important GPS is to this country both military and nonmilitary.

It is obviously not in the interest of the race track operators and the various concerned parties like the ADW companies to force this issue to the fore. It gives them an excuse -- wiggle room. It is tantamount to the wink-wink, nod-nod of the wheelers and dealers in the smoke filled back rooms.

What a joke, they can't even agree to a time keeping standard. Time (no pun intended) for the federal government to come in with a heavy hand and smack all of these groups up-side the head.

[Indulto]

Thanks to Ron Tiller for finding this and posting it in another forum ...

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/OPINION06/80501042/1016/OPINION

The last half of the interview is of most interest to this forum.BW, Thanks for sharing.

From the article:

Lunch With...Mike Maloney
Mike Maloney, who talks about his life as a full-time, professional horse player.
May 2, 2008… What's the motivation to let this go on instead of fixing it?

Everyone's working on commission within the industry. They make more money. And it costs money to upgrade some of this technology to bring things up to speed. A lot of stuff that needs to be done within the industry costs some amount of money. People like me don't have a voice in the industry. All the focus in the industry is on the bets: They'll do anything — advertising, technology improvements — to get the money into the pipeline. Then once the money starts into the pipeline and the track company takes its commission and the tote company takes its commission and the horsemen get their commission, no one has a financial interest in seeing the money goes to the rightful people in the rightful amounts.

… There's no one watching, overseeing the tracks. There's no one holding them to account, because the National Thoroughbred Racing Association — they're supposedly the commissioner's office of racing — they're funded by the tracks. That's not going to work. The Thoroughbred Racing Protection Bureau — funded by the tracks.

… Did the industry implement any of the recommendations?

The things that basically cost nothing. I'll tell you one thing they did: They formed something called the Players' Panel, which was 12 professional horseplayers around the country that gave suggestions as to what needed to be done regarding this security. I was one of the 12. The NTRA printed a nice neat little booklet of the suggestions we hammered out over hours and hours and hours of debate among the 12 of us, as to what needed to be done and what were the best ways to go about it. And basically, the NTRA made a big production of this and sent a copy to every racetrack in North America. And basically, the racetracks threw them in a can. Nothing was done. They didn't put any of the significant suggestions into practice, because they cost money.

… And because there's no authority to force them.

There's no SEC — Securities and Exchange Commission. …
… There's no one like that for all these billions of dollars that are bet when we go to the races. There's nobody looking out for our interests. If anyone holds an improper race, who holds them accountable? Churchill Downs has had incidences of the wrong horse racing. So has Ellis Park when Churchill owned it. Did they try to refund the money to the bettors? Did they donate the money they made on the races? They ran the wrong horse. They presented in the program one horse, and then they ran somebody else — multiple times. And this is all documented; they've admitted it all. They kept the money. Everything they made on those fraudulent races — they kept all that handle; they kept all the profit. And they were never fined a quarter.This is a long article that should be read by every horseplayer. If someone this influential and articulate is frustrated to such an extent by the industry, it doesn’t bode well for casual players with no standing (i.e, handle volume) to challenge this "commission"-driven system.

I now see no point of trying to negotiate with the other existing stakeholders. I see only two major objectives that would justify the effort to organize players:

1) Request and (and possibly lobby) the government and elected representatives individually to regulate the industry and address the concerns of the casual player as well as the professional’s.

OR

2) Reduce handle noticeably in selected events at selected venues at selected times until the other stakeholders get the message and come to talk with players of all bankroll sizes about everything else.

[FunkyMonkey]

BW, Thanks for sharing.

From the article:

Lunch With...Mike Maloney
Mike Maloney, who talks about his life as a full-time, professional horse player.
May 2, 2008This is a long article that should be read by every horseplayer. If someone this influential and articulate is frustrated to such an extent by the industry, it doesn’t bode well for casual players with no standing (i.e, handle volume) to challenge this "commission"-driven system.

I now see no point of trying to negotiate with the other existing stakeholders. I see only two major objectives that would justify the effort to organize players:

1) Request and (and possibly lobby) the government and elected representatives individually to regulate the industry and address the concerns of the casual player as well as the professional’s.

OR

2) Reduce handle noticeably in selected events at selected venues at selected times until the other stakeholders get the message and come to talk with players of all bankroll sizes about everything else.

i VOTE FOR # 1 ABOVE. iT IS THE ONLY way that things will seriously change...self regulation can only work effectively if there is a serious threat that that option may no longer exist...if effective and efficient action is not taken by the self regulating parties. #1 above should be the primary goal of any horseplayers association and if that lobbying effort is not effective then a mass wagering boycott should be organized so that the current powers that be realize the seriousness of intent.

[rrbauer]

I've seen references to the Maloney interview now at three (3) different sites over the past day, yet I see the article is dated May 2, 2008. I'm wondering how it was missed by so many people for so long; and, now it's being discovered by so many people at the same time. No answers here, but it's interesting that all of a sudden the article is "uncovered".

In any event, there are some factual errors (regarding the Fix-6 and the withholding rates) but they aren't particularly significant. A major thread throughout the article is that the industry doesn't care squat about its customers once they have our money...hardly a scoop. The ONLY bargaining chip we have in trying to deal with the industry power structure is our money.

[JustRalph]

I've seen references to the Maloney interview now at three (3) different sites over the past day, yet I see the article is dated May 2, 2008. I'm wondering how it was missed by so many people for so long; and, now it's being discovered by so many people at the same time. No answers here, but it's interesting that all of a sudden the article is "uncovered".

In any event, there are some factual errors (regarding the Fix-6 and the withholding rates) but they aren't particularly significant. A major thread throughout the article is that the industry doesn't care squat about its customers once they have our money...hardly a scoop. The ONLY bargaining chip we have in trying to deal with the industry power structure is our money.

That article has been laying on my nightstand for two or three weeks..........tells you how often I clear my reading material..............
Jeff at Jcapper posted it.....on his board..........after reading it over here I think..........so It has been around............