Cliff Williams, Contributor

With the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) set to convene a forum on the race-fixing phenomenon, the inescapable conclusion is that the regulators are about to admit that it may have reached intolerable levels.

Arranging results, or attempting so to do for the purpose of securing betting coups, has been an undesirable feature of gaming on horse racing right from the genesis of the organisation of the sport.

The growth of the bookmaking industry worldwide, with operations becoming highly opulent major businesses, has made it very tempting for the unscrupulous to try and exploit them using race-fixing as a mechanism.

Limiting exposure

Many years ago, I worked with a major bookmaking establishment and because of racing knowledge was entrusted with the responsibility to limit the company's exposure each raceday.

I found it a rather challenging, but it was not especially difficult since all agents operating betting offices islandwide were obligated to seek permission to accept bets of significant proportions as well as to report unusual betting patterns. I also had an arrangement with other licensed operators where the information was shared.

Having established a spreadsheet from the information, it was then just a question of deciding how to protect the company in terms of deciding which bets to respond to in terms of reducing the odds by laying off those in the Caymanas Totalisator.

There were many occasions when the pattern and level of staking that emerged suggested that those gamblers were confident that they knew the result.

What also emerged is that more often than not, the arrangement was for a well-fancied runner to win. I have also seen attempts made to arrange the quinela - that is betting on the first two to finish.

Low successes

Race results are, therefore, not arranged for out-of-form horses of dubious ability to win genuinely. However, with some certainty in the likely outcome, huge sums are generally wagered with anywhere between even money and 2/1 considered a very good return.

What I found amazing was the low percentage of success that these race-fixing gamblers had. The frequency with which outsiders won the races with betting patterns suggesting fixing, leads me to the conclusion that in any given race, selected for the purpose of fixing, not all the riders are brought in on the act.

Sometimes I got a sense that too often the perpetrators were not very knowledgeable and attempted to arrange results for horses hardly likely to win due to poor handicaps and unsuitability for the distance of the race.

The race-fixing phenomenon is something I have examined carefully over the years and I have developed an understanding of the different methods that are employed to perpetrate on bookmakers what is essentially something that has a close resemblance to fraud.

Despite these attempts, the bookmaking industry has survived in style, and in my next column, I will have more on this fascinating subject.