TIF

by the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation The rule seems clear. What is also clear is that the rule, as written, was ignored on Thursday, July 21 at Saratoga, though by which party is unknown at present. "On behalf of aggrieved horseplayers who were impacted by the decision last Thursday, and all future players of multi-race bets in New York, we felt it necessary to seek clarification from the New York State Gaming Commission about the rules, why a seemingly arbitrary decision was made in the sequence and what customer expectations should...

From the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Bettors wagering on racing from Kentucky will enjoy returns paid to the penny beginning Friday, July 15. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission confirmed to the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) the shift will take effect this week, three months after legislation enabling the change to penny breakage was passed by the Kentucky General Assembly and signed into law. "This is a welcome and long overdue shift in pari-mutuel wagering to pay bettors the entirety of their duly deserved winnings," said Patrick Cummings, TIF's Executive Director. "Kentucky...

The speed of legal sports betting's expansion across America in the last four years has surprised even the most bullish advocates. On any given day in a majority of states, Americans can bet on just about any outcome in the world of sports. The next point in a game of tennis. The total runs in the next inning of a baseball game. The number of corner kicks for a team in a soccer match. But if you legally wanted to bet on the Kentucky Derby other than the day before...

By a vote of 33-1, the Kentucky State Senate has given their stamp of approval to Kentucky House Bill 607, which modernizes the taxation of pari-mutuel wagers and, in a major victory for horseplayers, eliminates the dime breakage than has been the standard for many years in favor of penny breakage. The change in the breakage will put more money into the pockets of horseplayers and is the first such measure to be introduced in the United States. The lone dissenting vote came from Republican Senator Whitney Westerfield. "For more...

Edited Press Release The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) became the first in North America to adopt a rule which emulates the globally-recognized Category 1 interference philosophy at a Feb. 17 meeting. The amended rule changes the consideration of stewards when determining interference. The exact wording of the amended rule is below: "If the Stewards determine a hHorse or its rider has caused an interference and finished in front of the Horse it interfered with, and if not for the interference the Horse would have finished behind the horse it...

Mistakes aside, the Modern Games "scratch" and subsequent fiasco tells us plenty about the state of rule-making and pari-mutuel wagering technology. It might even offer signs into the future of betting on the Breeders' Cup and other big American racing events too. Disregarding a horse for "pari-mutuel purposes" and then running the race with that horse in it, as was done in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, is equivalent to disregarding the interests of betting customers altogether. The rules need to change. While many questions remain unanswered, and the...

This is Part 12 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base--horseplayers--for decades. "Wagering Insecurity" details some of that neglect,...

This is Part 9 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base--horseplayers--for decades. "Wagering Insecurity" details some of that neglect,...

This is Part 8 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base--horseplayers--for decades. "Wagering Insecurity" details some of that neglect,...

   This is Part 7 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity."    Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads.    Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity, along with increased transparency of the wagering business and its participants over time. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult...

This is Part 6 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base--horseplayers--for decades. "Wagering Insecurity" details some of that neglect,...

This is Part 5 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity." After five years of contemplating possible actions to improve wagering security, nothing of significance materialized. A December 2008 conference session in Arizona served as a perfect synopsis of the failure. One member of the panel, Kevin Mullally of Gaming Laboratories International, said: "I came here...to learn a little bit more about why the racing industry had managed to be the only component of the gaming industry that had not implemented any serious oversight to its technology." Reached...