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[Jeff P]

Joint Press Release from AmTote and Roberts Communications:

The Paulick Report | | 03-10-2024
AmTote, Roberts Communications Statement: 'Not The Result Of A Tote System Failure':
https://paulickreport.com/news/horse...system-failure

The following is a joint statement – issued on Sunday afternoon by AmTote International, the tote system that is part of the Stronach Group's 1/ST Technology, and Roberts Communicatioons Network – concerning the disruption of betting and wagering information that affected racetracks across the United States.

AmTote/Roberts Communications: A communications network failure on March 9 resulted in wagering disruptions at numerous racetracks and guest locations operating through the Mid-Atlantic hub of AmTote International. Most notably, the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs had to be run without wagering.

The issues were not the result of a tote system failure. Rather, the communications network (both primary and backup) that connects the AmTote Mid-Atlantic hub to other wagering hubs failed. Roberts Communications Network (“RCN”) provides the communications network that connects AmTote’s Mid-Atlantic hub to all other tote company wagering hubs worldwide. RCN designs and installs the communications network in a manner designed to prevent outages of this type. However, the unprecedented nature of the connectivity outage yesterday, which impacted the third-party providers from which RCN provisions bandwidth, took down both the primary and back-up networks.

“Everyone needs to stop blaming AmTote,” said Todd Roberts, President and CEO of RCN. “This was an unprecedented failure in the primary and back-up connectivity provided to RCN by our third-party suppliers.”

Also --

Horse Racing Nation | HRN staff March 10, 2024 10:45am
Report: Tampa Bay calls for investigation of tote problems:
https://www.horseracingnation.com/ne...e_problems_123

Tampa Bay Downs will seek an investigation by an independent third party into its tote-system crash Saturday.

Peter Berube, general manager of the track, told Daily Racing Form that he has not received an explanation for the incident from AmTote, its wagering-processing partner, or from AmTote parent 1/ST racing.

He has asked the Thoroughbred Racing Association to conduct an investigation of what occurred.

“We need an independent assessment,” Berube told DRF. “This can’t happen. This was a complete meltdown. We need to know who was at fault and make sure this never happens again.”

Because of the malfunction, the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby was run without wagering. Tampa Bay Downs canceled the last race of the day, and tickets on the Tampa Bay Oaks were not redeemed until Sunday.

The outage also affected Santa Anita, Laurel Park and Gulfstream.

-jp
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