Elite Turf CLub

Scott Daruty, the President of Elite Turf Club, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss both frustrations and misconceptions surrounding CAWs. The Writers' Room team also examined the latest court decisions on HISA, talked all things Royal Ascot, and looked ahead to this weekend's racing.

The judge overseeing the pending class-action federal lawsuit over computer-assisted wagering (CAW) on Friday put a halt to "discovery" in the case, meaning that for the time being, the small-scale bettor who initiated the litigation back in October won't be able to go forward with the process of trying to gather evidence from some of the nation's biggest tracks and bet-takers who are named as defendants in the suit. The order by Judge Joan Azrack was entered into the electronic docket late in the afternoon of Feb. 20 without any...

In the days leading up to and after Christmas, parties on both sides of the pending class-action lawsuit involving computer-assisted wagering (CAW) have sparred in federal court over whether allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of average horseplayers constitute valid claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The defendants in the lawsuit-which include The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the New York Racing Association (NYRA), AmTote International, United Tote and Elite Turf...

In a statement issued Thursday, The Stronach Group owned Elite Turf Club, LLC, and AmTote International, Inc., have responded to a class action lawsuit filed last week against several Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) related wagering entities under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO") and under state law, alleging they have "organized and participated in the corruption of the betting system to the detriment of the class." The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that...

Former horse racing gambler Ryan Dickey has filed a class action lawsuit against several entities related to wagering platforms offered to Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) players under the under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO") and under state law, alleging they have "organized and participated in the corruption of the betting system to the detriment of the class." The lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The dependents comprise The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, the New York Racing...

After growing clamor among horse players about the role that Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) players had in driving a spate of marked late odds changes at Del Mar this summer, track officials announced Tuesday that starting this Thursday, they would close CAW access to its win pools at two minutes before the off time. "I'm really pleased. This is a stepping stone to getting things right as it effectively creates a retail only pool, and it stabilizes prices," said Marshall Gramm, an economics professor at Rhodes College in Tennessee and...

Amid the embattled economics of horse racing, more and more attention has been placed upon Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) players. One such focus has surrounded whether these behemoths of the betting pools are contributing their fair share back to the sport. That's the case certainly in California. Last year, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) became the first regulator of a major racing jurisdiction to really dig down into the issue during a public hearing--one that later led to a published Q&A. The scrutiny that California has received hasn't always...

Golden State Racing (GSR) has reached an agreement with The Stronach Group's (TSG) Xpressbet, allowing punters to be able to wager on Pleasanton through that particular ADW platform when racing resumes this Friday. GSR launched its inaugural 26-day Thoroughbred meet at Pleasanton Saturday, Oct. 19. But punters hoping to wager on its product through Xpressbet and the New York Racing Association's NYRA Bets were shut out--a scenario stemming from a disagreement over the fees that form a key part of a track's purses and revenues. Similarly, Elite Turf Club players...

It was déjà vu all over again at June's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Three months after a contentious meeting that saw board members vote unanimously to give race dates to Pleasanton Racetrack for a Thoroughbred meet this fall (in opposition to the wishes of Southern California track operators), the CHRB wrestled with another weighty conundrum: How to fund horse racing in California for the next fiscal year. Ultimately, the board approved what was termed a "compromise" funding model that will see each racing association cover the "direct costs"...

A deal that Del Mar has made with a titan of Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) provides a rare glimpse into the tremendous sway that individual players can wield over track and racing officials, the potentially lopsided economic ramifications of such deals, and the tremendous pressures that California executives are under with competing jurisdictions that enjoy purse subsidies not available in the Golden State. It also turns a spotlight onto a world largely hidden from the public eye-one that industry leaders are generally loathe to discuss publicly, and in which just...

Last June, Pat Cummings, executive director of the National Thoroughbred Alliance and former executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, issued a stark warning about the encroaching impacts from Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) to the men and women trying to forge a living through horse racing in the Golden State. CAW players constitute a small group of mostly anonymous, high-volume gamblers with an outsized impact on the betting markets--including in California--due to their use of sophisticated wagering technologies and the inducements offered to them in the form of attractive rates...

Last month, a lengthy Financial Times feature detailed the growing share of overall handle generated through Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW)--both in California and nationwide. CAW players are a small group of high-volume and largely anonymous gamblers with an outsized impact on the betting markets due in no small part to the sophisticated wagering tools at their disposal. Because of their high stakes play, they're offered inducements in the form of rebates and reduced takeout rates largely not available to the average punter. CAW proponents argue that these deep-pocketed players provide...