Saratoga: Steward halts betting early by mistake

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

The first thing to cross my mind is why is a human pushing a button to close betting? This is 2012, there must technology out there to handle this chore.

The second thing to cross my mind a millisecond later, if said human made that mistake which seems somewhat harmless on the surface, how many times has he pushed the button late?

Finally, if you are relying on this person for pool integrity, why is he not sequestered in a room with nothing but binoculars and a button?

If this is what NYRA, the leader of east coast racing has going on, one can only imagine what is happening at the Penn Nationals, Thistledowns and Ellis's of the world.

I agree completely with this. In fact, it's as if I wrote this myself. Closing the pools 2 minutes early is not a major problem. EVERYTHING else about what may have happened here, and the systems still being used to close the betting pools, is.