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, and the need to embrace serious reform. Fortunately, there are examples across the racing world to follow.
The Viking Hoard case was clear.
The horse was doped to lose–by whom remains unclear. Betting operators in another country noticed unusual activity and alerted regulators. Bettors, and confidence, were damaged.
“Significant actual damage flowed from the neglect of the trainer. The damage was financial in the case of affected punters, and reputational in the case of the racing industry.”
From 2009 to 2018, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) successfully prosecuted 82 individuals in betting corruption cases, including 12 jockeys. Bet monitoring and systems to flag suspicious bets have featured in many of them.
To what degree is North American racing wagering being monitored?
Australia, Great Britain and Hong Kong are taking this topic seriously.
They have dedicated betting analysis teams, supported by automated systems. They inform stewards of unusual betting patterns or outcomes and institute real time monitoring and share information with other licensed betting operators. These jurisdictions also share best practices with each other.
American oversight at such a level does not exist.
The opportunity for improvement in North America is significant. Until then, the damage imposed on customers will be far worse than nearly any other major racing jurisdiction, where such issues are taken seriously.
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