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Racing & Technology Archive

Tuesday Odds and Ends

– California pushes the ADW mess toward a solution, beginning an eight-month experiment that splits broadcast and wagering rights. So, video remains exclusive, but horseplayers can wager on any track through any online wagering service in the state (Blood-Horse).
– From ESPN Sports Poll: “The number of people in the U.S. ages 18+ who said they are interested in horse racing increased for an unmatched fifth consecutive year.”
– It was sad to see Lava Man finish sixth in the California Cup Classic against a field he would have demolished last year (LA Times); it was also sad to see Digger all alone in the Laurel winner’s circle (WashPost).
– Nashua winner Etched is Dubai-bound, as is impressive maiden winner Music Note (DRF).

Posted in Racing & Technology on November 6, 2007

DC Ban Traces to Oregon

The abrupt ADW closures that shut out DC horseplayers last weekend were the result of a state criminal code review by the Oregon Racing Commission, reports John Scheinman in today’s Washington Post:

Commission officials recently reviewed state criminal codes and discovered it is illegal to accept or place bets on horse races within the District. As the regulator of a multi-jurisdictional “hub” for interstate horse racing bets made online, the commission advised advanced deposit wagering companies (ADWs) they were at risk of breaking the law.

The Oregon Racing Comission regulates the hub through which most US-based online wagering is routed.
Displaying their usual concern for the customer, Youbet and other services closed mid-card Saturday with little notice. “I’m betting early in the card, maybe the third or fourth race, and when I got back on for the ninth I couldn’t bet,” Mike Soper told the Post. “In the middle of the day, they decided this was illegal and they couldn’t take bets.”
10/8 Addendum: J.S. supplies some additional information from his Thoroughbred Times article in the comment below and raises a few good questions — what is going on with Youbet?
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The California Horse Racing Board is considering requiring all ADWs that operate in the state to share wagering content as a condition of licensing. “I believe it is time for this board to step up and do something for our fans and do something for our industry,” said CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro (ThoroTimes). The proposal would sensibly separate wagering rights from broadcast rights, a necessary division for the online market to evolve.

Posted in Racing & Technology on October 5, 2007

Failure Happens

Nothing to do with racing, but I’m fascinated by the story of last Tuesday’s massive power outage at a San Francisco data center that wiped out Typepad, Technorati, Yelp, Craigslist, and a bunch of other Web 2.0 sites for several hours. Turns out, the impossible happened:

In this incident, latent defects caused three generators to fail during start-up. No customers were affected until a fourth generator failed 30 seconds later, which overloaded the surviving backup system and caused power failures to 3 of 8 customer areas.

What’s most interesting is that the redundant design of the system is what caused it to fail so completely. The failure of the fourth generator should have only brought down one area instead of three. This kind of cascade failure is common in complex & tightly coupled systems. In my experience, these sorts of failure-modes are often identified and then promptly dismissed as being “nearly impossible.” Unfortunately, the impossible often becomes reality. (O’Reilly Radar)

Actually, I guess the story is racing-related: Horseplayers well understand the impossible becoming reality, upsetting best-laid wagers, and anyone who plays multi-race exotics knows all about the necessity and danger of redundant design …

Posted in Racing & Technology on July 28, 2007

TrackNet, Arch-Rivals to Share

Don’t get too excited, it’s a one-day deal: TrackNet announced today that it would share the August 4 Claiming Crown at Ellis Park with Youbet and TVG (Blood-Horse). All three ADWs will donate fees generated by Claiming Crown wagers back to the Claiming Crown organization (ThoroTimes).

Posted in Racing & Technology on July 24, 2007

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