Via TD Thornton
After failing to properly calculate Kentucky’s newly made coin splits at two Standardbred races that met in July, general control provider United Tote Company was fined and ordered to “sow” a pool of fish. Odd futures bets for $4,445.77, equal to the amount the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) determined should have been paid out to the bettors if the calculations had been correct.
According to an administrative ruling dated September 12 and signed by Waqas Ahmed, KHRC’s director of pari-mutuel betting and compliance, United Tote “provided an inappropriate total adjustment service” on races conducted at Oak Grove (July 17-19) and The Red Mile (July 31).
The first of those violations came two days after Kentucky first implemented its mandate that money split replaced with a bettor-friendly coin.
According to the ruling, mistakes also occurred even though United Tote had “completed the overall tests prior to the meeting with KHRC staff using the correct time off”.
The ruling stated that on July 20, United Tote filed an incident report in Oak Grove “showing that prices were charged with a 10-cent break rather than a mandatory one-cent break, with a debt of 1,916 .56 USD to the public”.
Then, on July 31, a separate incident report from The Red Mile stated that “prices are charged with a 10-cent break instead of a mandatory one-cent break” but only for “external remote sources.” out of Kentucky bet on Race 2 onwards on that date. According to KHRC, the liability to the public is $2,529.21.
According to the ruling, “generally, the total fine will be $1,000 per day of violation; however, due to mitigating factors, that amount dropped to $500 between July 17 and July 19 and July 31. According to KHRC, those factors are:
“Oak Grove Racetrack was placing pari-mutuel bets before the new break requirement went into effect on July 14. The events above affect only the last three race days of the track’s 2022 race. this.
“[United Tote] calculated and paid the correct price to all Kentucky sources for wagers conducted during the Red Mile Racetrack meeting. However, the coin division is not applied to Race 2 onwards for all other sources due to a software bug.
“Intentional Violations [and] the [United Tote] fully cooperate with KHRC on determining liability due,” the ruling stated.
Bettors would theoretically be reimbursed through mandatory pool seeding, which must happen “at a mining racetrack in calendar year 2022.” [with] all details… approved by KHRC. “
In addition, United Tote “must submit its process to comply with regulatory requirements relating to the provision of aggregator services,” the ruling stated.
It is unclear at the deadline for this story whether United Tote will appeal the penalties.
