NEWS
Apparent network failure shuts out potential Derby bettors
Posted: Sunday, May 02, 2010 2:22 PM
by Frank Angst
Several major account wagering outlets and racetracks were unable to process wagers at various times on May 1, blaming a network failure at AmTote International Inc.’s Oregon wagering hub for creating the problems on America’s busiest day of pari-mutuel wagering.
XpressBet.com, TwinSpires.com, Arlington Park, and Fair Grounds each experienced at least some outages during the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) card. Churchill Downs Inc. believes other outlets were affected as well.
XpressBet’s problems started at about 2 p.m. EDT on May 1 and continued past Derby post time, shutting off many customers from wagering on the Derby. Bettors who tried to wager received failure notices blaming communications issues. Churchill Downs promised to look into the problem to find out how widespread the outages were.
“A network failure at AmTote's Oregon wagering hub Saturday, May 1, caused severe technical and customer service problems for XpressBet and many other entities, including TwinSpires, Arlington Park and the Fair Grounds,” XpressBet President Ron Luniewski posted on the website Sunday. “While this problem was beyond our control, we recognize the negative impact the network failure had on horseplayers nationwide during Kentucky Derby Day--the biggest day in racing. We apologize for any inconvenience and frustration the outage may have caused and promise necessary measures to ensure continuous reliability.”
On the XpressBet website, it was difficult for customers to determine if bets had been processed or not. Some players said they thought wagers failed to go through, only to see winnings added to their balance. Other players said they thought winning wagers had been pushed through only to learn they failed to process, resulting in a refund of the wager amount.
AmTote representatives were not available for comment Sunday.
In a preliminary technical report posted on its website on Sunday afternoon, AmTote said that two service outages on Saturday stemmed from a high number of transactions.]
“In both cases, the service outage was cause by a controlled system shutdown and restart which was required to reset the system because a key software component became locked due to transaction volumes,” AmTote stated.
“AmTote has identified a remedy to this locking issue and the remedy will be implemented no later than May 4. In both cases, AmTote has not identified any wagers occurring after pool close on races hosted on the Oregon hub. No other AmTote hub facilities were affected by this locking issue.
“AmTote conducts rigorous testing of all software it deploys including a volume stress test, which was conducted on the Oregon system prior to May 1, 2010. This stress test did not identify any issues with the system. The software version running on the Oregon hub had been in place for 28 weeks prior to May 1, 2010, with no issues occurring.”
“We are sorry customers throughout the country experienced difficulty placing wagers on the Kentucky Derby and the undercard, and we promise to get a full and complete accounting from AmTote of the failures,” said Churchill Downs racetrack President Kevin Flanery.
Despite the problems, Churchill reported a 7.8% increase in all-sources wagering handle on the Derby race itself to $112.7-million and a 4.3% wagering increase on the 13-race Derby card to $162.7-million.
“These totals are especially notable given equipment failures at AmTote’s Oregon hub, which resulted in TwinSpires.com, Arlington Park, Fair Grounds, and many other wagering outlets experiencing lost wagers and customer service issues,” Flanery said.
AmTote was part of the Magna Entertainment Corp. bankruptcy, and it was scheduled to be transferred to MI Developments Inc. on April 30 as part of the reorganization plan. XpressBet.com also was scheduled to be transferred from Magna Entertainment to MI Developments.
Churchill Downs is in the process of acquiring Youbet.com Inc., which owns United Tote, the service in place at Kentucky tracks.
Frank Angst is a Thoroughbred Times senior staff writer
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Steve, Gambrills, MD on May 07, 2010 at 10:26 PM
I had difficulty with twinspires, so I tried xpressbet with no success there either. However, I did eventually get my bets in on the Derby via twinspires.
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Posted by: Mimi, Louisville, KY on May 04, 2010 at 04:40 PM
This network failure cost my family over $1,200. In an early race on Sat. morning while placing a bet on line, Twinspires.com told us that a bet we made did not go through so we placed it again and later, when checking our betting history, found out that it went through twice. It was a loosing bet. On the derby race we placed three bets, one winning trifecta, one extacta, and a WPS winning bet. When placing the bet the site again told us it didn't go through but we figured it went through the other time we received the same warning so we figured it went through that time. Well it didn't and it cost us over $1200. We are very upset with this situation!
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Posted by: audrey, baltimore, MD on May 03, 2010 at 03:21 PM
That is exactly why I have acounts with TVG & Xpressbet.
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Posted by: JJ, NY, NY on May 03, 2010 at 01:17 AM
This was a disaster. I didn't get my bets in; and the few I got in were duplicated. Twinspires promised to get back to me; I sent them an email about the same bets going through more than once. Hopefully, they will make right and this will not happened again.
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