Quote:
Originally Posted by dasch
There was a company a couple of years ago that came up with a system that could update every 4 seconds so at worst the last odds change would happen 4 seconds into the race. I believe the cost to install was about $50k. Haven't heard another thing about it since. It really makes you wonder what is going on when the cost to improve is so small yet they have no real desire to make any changes at all.
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Can't find any old articles on this, but I seem to recall hearing someone proposing the idea of a new "high-speed" network similar to this. That said, the current tote systems/network (at least in North America) are already capable of doing updates every ~5 seconds, if the industry wanted it.
The main reasons this hasn't been done already are:
1) You're only as fast as your slowest/weakest link. The US network can send/receive updates every 5 seconds, but there's also several off-shore sources with crappy networks in places like Central/South America, Africa, etc. Collecting 90% of the money in 5 seconds does no good if you have to wait another 10+ seconds for the other 10%.
2) Certain US states (Florida and Arizona) require money to be sent through multiple tote systems (including an "in-state" system) before it reaches the host. These "double hops" add a lot of latency, something around 10-15 seconds. This isn't a tech problem, it's a legislative one, and good luck getting a state legislator to pay attention to your concerns about updating parimutuel tote networks. We've tried.
3) Concerns about on-track equipment, TV displays, etc not being able to handle refreshing odds every 4-5 seconds. By the time the public has a chance to look at the board, it's already turning over again. Not to mention older equipment/boards that simply won't be able to handle a refresh rate like that without burning out. This would require a lot of tracks investing in new infield boards and displays around the track, which blows up that $50k estimate.
Right now most tracks are still on 45-60 second updates, and within 3 MTP that time comes down to 20-30 seconds. Over the next couple years the industry will probably try to reduce that further to 10-20, but I don't see it going much lower than that unless the issues above are addressed.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm not saying any of these are good excuses. I'm just explaining what the discussions inside the industry are on this topic, and why things haven't gotten faster. You can decide if they're valid reasons or not.
