by Ed DeRosa

One of the most difficult aspects of managing the pari-mutuel economy is keeping all the various factions happy.

For instance, consider the ongoing dispute between horsemen and Tracknet Media. What is good for the racetracks is not necessarily good for horsemen, and those disagreements negatively impact bettors, who do not have access to their choice of simulcast signals.

There are subsets of the betting group as well. What is good for the big bettors is not necessarily good for those with smaller bankrolls, and while tracks certainly like the handle “whales” generate, most would be reluctant to lose the weekend warrior player.

Monday’s opening session of the International Simulcast Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, addressed the high-wire balancing act simulcasting coordinators often face when juggling the needs of the aforementioned factions.

In addition to running Icarus Aircraft Inc. as the company’s chief executive officer and representing his fellow owners as executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Larry Higgins travels to many racetracks throughout the year and bets an average of $1-million a year.

He summed up most bettors’ feelings when he said, “I want information, and I want integrity.”

Higgins quit playing the pick six in the aftermath of the Breeders’ Cup pick six scandal in 2002, and he said racing has failed to restore his faith in jackpot wagers. Higgins said he prefers to play smaller tracks because he feels the reward of hijacking a smaller pool is not worth the risk.

Higgins also brought up the issue of past posting, which he said has created a negative perception on the integrity of the game. J. Curtis Linnell, director of wagering services for the Thoroughbred Protective Bureau, agreed but stressed that Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America Inc. member tracks are working to fix the problem.

Linnell said that the implementation of a forced-odds update ten seconds after the close of betting has helped decrease the perception of past posting in jurisdictions that utilize such an update. He also called on Thoroughbred tracks in California to eliminate the four-second cancel delay.
 
“It’s completely unacceptable,” Linnell said of the cancel delay, which is only in place at Golden State Thoroughbred facilities.

Linnell tempered his comments by preceding them with information that shows that an overwhelming number of winners shorten in price as the betting period gets closer to its conclusion. Linnell later added that closing the betting earlier than the actual start of the race would not solve the problem of perceived late odds shifts.

“Eliminating betting during the time most bettors are most productive is counter productive to the pari-mutuel model,” Linnell said.

Much of the handle poured into pools during the last minute before a race begins comes from the sport’s biggest bettors. Michael Konik, a former computer sports bettor who said he won seven figures a year betting on football and basketball, said that racetracks should embrace whales but not necessarily with rebates.

Konik said that computer bettors seek an edge and not the thrill of gambling and that while action might decrease slightly from a loss of rebates because of fewer edges, it would not go away forever and might even increase over time as money from less-informed sources returns to the pool and offers more value to professional bettors.

“This is a business that prefers to milk the cow rather than to slaughter it,” Konik said. “A rebate is an advantage to a professional that does not need it.”

The conference runs through Wednesday morning.

Tuesday morning’s opening panel entitled “The Issue of Simulcasting Business Models” will address the ongoing dispute between horsemen and some account-wagering companies.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times