Gural getting rid of the drag betweeen races. Does CAW wagering even care?

[Locked in with pace]

     With COMPUTER ASSISTED WAGERING being more and more of the Meadowlands handle, very curious to see the difference in handle to when the Meadownlands tested no drag before.  Do computers really care when the race goes off?
     When they tested NO DRAG before, they showed a decrease in handle. But that was before the huge presence of CAW wageing.  Will the decrease be less than before?? Will it stay the same?
     Your thoughts?

[Kole Hanover]

 "Before the huge presence of CAW"


 You really think that's fairly new?
 Been going on for years & years

[Scooteroo]

Even though Gural says he doesn't like the drag, it's here to stay, because when they eliminated most of the drag one weekend the handle dropped so they put a stop to that. In the Meadowlands heyday they started at post time all the time and the handles were great. If you were committed to eliminating the drag and the bettors knew it, they would adjust, but it's not going to happen because they want every last dollar.

[Papillon]

     With COMPUTER ASSISTED WAGERING being more and more of the Meadowlands handle, very curious to see the difference in handle to when the Meadownlands tested no drag before.  Do computers really care when the race goes off?
     When they tested NO DRAG before, they showed a decrease in handle. But that was before the huge presence of CAW wageing.  Will the decrease be less than before?? Will it stay the same?
     Your thoughts?

duh--they don't care

dumb question

[Cobalt Kenny]

Even though Gural says he doesn't like the drag, it's here to stay, because when they eliminated most of the drag one weekend the handle dropped so they put a stop to that. In the Meadowlands heyday they started at post time all the time and the handles were great. If you were committed to eliminating the drag and the bettors knew it, they would adjust, but it's not going to happen because they want every last dollar.

Good point 

[Kenny]

Good point 

When I started going to harness racing, the only way to legally wager was at the track.  I once took a tour of a racing facility.  They used television cameras focused on the parimutuel lines to decide when to send the horses to the gate. The delay was shorter than the drag today but it was based on how long the lines were.

[Cobalt Kenny]

When I started going to harness racing, the only way to legally wager was at the track.  I once took a tour of a racing facility.  They used television cameras focused on the parimutuel lines to decide when to send the horses to the gate. The delay was shorter than the drag today but it was based on how long the lines were.

That  makes a lot of sense but that was back in the day when there was no off track betting and ALL the betting was done at the tracks and as Im told, the attendance was enormous

[pocketrocketwinner]

A poster on this message board recently stated that if you have questions about caws, go bet something else like bingo. In my experience, that's the industry standard response. It's been a very successful strategy

[The Answer]

CAW used to just use algorithms for their programming. They now have AI built into it and the longer you use any AI program the more accurate it gets. AI is able to learn like a human so be ready for lower payoffs in racing and when betting sports keep an eye on which side has more money bet.

[Locked in with pace]

It should be interesting to see

[Grandstand Handicapper]

It's pretty simple. If you think CAW teams account for 50% of the handle at the Meadowlands, and they eliminate the drag, you'll see a substantially bigger decline in handle. OTOH, if you think the CAW teams account for 90% of the handle, you'll see a very insignificant decline in handle. Simply put, the decline will be attributable to a smaller or bigger piece of the pie.

And if you think it's that simple, then perhaps you believe the Apollo 11 space mission was a hoax, and Armstrong and Aldrin never walked on the moon, because the American flag was waving in the wind and there's no wind on the moon. LOL.

[Papillon]

eliminating the drag will lower the handle not made by CAWs

CAWs could care less when the race starts since ALL of their bets go in after everyone elses bets are in so they can perform pool analyses

eliminating the drag has no impact on what the CAWs will do

I am not sure why this fact is difficult to understand

[pocketrocketwinner]

It's been documented that it is impossible for a caw to get shut out of a bet. In its simplest form they are able to make a batch of all bets at one time. Drag means nothing to them. they make their bets in less than 1 second after the pools close for humans. If you think otherwise, you don't really understand even the basics of how a caw operates/wagers

[Bitter Truth]

If you believe the last two posters, which I happen to, then it just verifies what is in the back
of all of our minds: We are suckers to bet horses or at least the tracks that are known to have
 CAW participation. Not that we are gonna stop.

[Papillon]

the Cella family, which owns Oaklawn Park, will not allow CAWs into any of their pools...and they didn't before they received historical racing machines

they know that the average bettor is getting fleeced everyday