The Hegarty follow up to the Del Mar & Pleasanton hits:
https://www.drf.com/news/jackpot-pay...ering-programs
Jackpot payouts put spotlight on computer-assisted wagering programs
Matt Hegarty
Jul 31, 2020
Two recent takedowns of jackpot pools in California by the operators of computer-assisted wagering programs have swung the spotlight back on an issue that continues to frustrate many horseplayers despite the longtime presence of the programs in parimutuel pools worldwide.
The jackpot payouts, at Pleasanton two weeks ago and last Sunday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, both paid out the entire, single-ticket pool when one CAW operator had the same combination at a multiple of the minimum bet. In the case of Pleasanton, the winning ticket had two of the same combinations at the minimum 20-cent base price, while at Del Mar the winning ticket was bet at an $8 denomination, four times the $2 minimum.
For some, the two payouts have rekindled concerns about the influence and access of CAW operators, which receive outsized rebates on their handle and use programs based on sophisticated algorithms to devise deep and expensive wagering plays. The programs typically use direct-data feeds to onload thousands of bets into the pools just before post.
Regulators at the California Horse Racing Board, reacting to conspiratorial talk on social media, reviewed both winning tickets and found them in compliance with the state’s rules for awarding jackpot bets, according to the board’s spokesman, Mike Marten.
But the outcry over the bets was so heated that Marten posted a three-part statement on social media Monday night detailing that the Del Mar bet was made by a CAW operators that spent $29,652 on 8,361 combinations. The denominations of the bets ranged from $60 down to the $2 minimum, and the winning bet – which included horses that were logical in every race – was played for $8.
CAWs use weighted probabilities to determine the amount of each bet, because the programs are designed to cash bets: With sizeable rebates and enormous daily activity, the programs are merely trying to churn out an annual return in the 2 to 4 percent range. The greater the probability that a wager will be successful, the larger the amount of the bet.