by Frank Angst

Calling racing regulators “protectors” of horse racing bettors, handicapper Mike Maloney urged racing commissioners to take action to stop past-posting incidents and improve wagering integrity.

A Keeneland Race Course-based professional horse player, Maloney spoke at the Association of Racing Commissioners International annual convention on Tuesday in Austin, Texas. Maloney, who has been betting on horses for 30 years, said he has seen too many instances where race wagers continue to be accepted well after the gates have opened.

RCI Integrity Services President Paul Bowlinger, himself an avid horseplayer, said Maloney’s story shows the need for fast action.

“We’re no longer talking in the abstract,” Bowlinger said. “What frustrates me is that we talked about this two years ago.”

Last year the RCI passed a model rule on wagering integrity that requires states to obtain independent software to monitor pools, but states have been slow to act. Software by RCI Integrity Services that would assure such a requirement is met currently has just one customer, Youbet.com.

In December at the Symposium on Racing and Gaming, Maloney documented his ability to wager on a Fair Grounds race at Keeneland well after the event had started. Maloney made the wagers to prove it could be done, after raising this issue with racetrack officials and industry insiders since 2002.

“They would look at me like I’d just reported a UFO,” Maloney said.

Maloney believes regulators are best suited to solve the problem.

“When we’re out there betting at any level, whether it be $2 or $2,000, you are our protectors,” Maloney said.

Bowlinger said racing could be losing significant handle because players are not confident in integrity of the pools. He said the issue must be addressed.

“The [National Thoroughbred Racing Association] reported to me that late odds drops during the race is the number one issue eroding fan confidence—that’s more than medication and drug issues,” Bowlinger said. “That comes as no surprise to me because the fan sees these odds drops every day. Shouldn’t this be a warning shot to the industry?

“We spend $30-million to typically find a few bute [Phenylbutazone] overages and we spend virtually nothing overlooking the pools. I’m not saying that drug testing is not important, but for the first time we have proof that wagering integrity is at the forefront for the typical fan.”

Bowlinger said regulators currently rely on racing associations to report betting anomalies and problems. Isidore Sobkowski, president of Advanced Monitoring Systems, said the RCI Integrity Services software is capable of picking up stop-wagering failures that result in past posting.

RCI President Ed Martin said while stop-wagering failures are the current hot issue, new integrity issues will come up unless regulators take charge. In a convention presentation, NTRA President Alex Waldrop listed past posting as one of three issues he thought regulators need to be addressed.

“Let’s fix past posting,” Waldrop said. “It’s too important to ignore.”

Maloney took time to explain how bettors could have benefited from betting late into a pool like the one at Aqueduct on January 3, when wagering was not stopped until well after the horses were racing. Aqueduct had been favoring speed and that the odds-on favorite, My Apology, seemed to be a sure thing if he was able to start well. He dueled for the early lead.

“At that point, in my expert opinion, that horse was a 90% shot to win that race,” Maloney said.

My Apology won the race by three lengths and paid $3.70 to win. Aqueduct self-reported the stop-wagering problems, one of eight instances of past posting that the New York State Racing and Wagering Board has investigated in the past two years. Maloney said it is important for regulators to have access to wagering information.

“You would have to look beyond win betting. If I had been looking to take advantage of that situation, I would have made a series of exacta and trifecta bets with the winner on top on those tickets,” Maloney said, noting a large win bet would send up red flags.

Sobkowski said RCI Integrity Services software would pick up betting anomalies in these pools.

The New York Racing Association, which does not use an automatic stop-wagering button connected to the starting gate, put in place extra layers of human oversight to try to prevent future problems.

Maloney called on all North American races to be time-stamped down to the second and all simulcast events be contested under one standard clock. Curtis Linnell, an analyst for the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, said the lack of time-stamps and standard times makes it difficult to investigate such instances.

“The Daily Racing Form and Equibase list a time for when a race is off but that is only down to the minute. Racetracks need to list an exact time so that if there is a problem, it can be looked up,” Maloney said.

The TRPB is an investigative subsidiary for the racetracks’ Thoroughbred Racetrack Associations.

“The current procedures for stop-betting are not adequate,” Linnell said. “There has been widespread discussion on how to rework close betting, but no consensus.”

Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times