Chris: Vegas(which btw uses Autotoe), the banks, any number of govt agencies,etc,etc,could be a role model for an industry which is using Pascal, a programming language which came on the scene when I was in college. The question, as I see it, is not identifying security steps, which are well known in many industries, but why the tote cos did not invest or implement any of the systems which were available.

In that regard, the reporting has been very disappointing. Autotoe has hired a PR firm & part of the spin is that the lack of security was because the tracks, i.e. the customers, used competitive bidding in awarding contracts. Huh? In addition to reporting this nonsense w/o indicating that it originated at Autotote's PR firm, it seems to me to that some reporters do not understand how the free enterprise system works, not to mention the history of Autotote. If anything, the tracks should make the bids even more competitve by opening up the competition to those outside the US.

Autotote was an Australian co. which Weil gained control of in a leveraged buyout engineered by Drexel, before that firm was convicted of numerous felonies, in 1979. Junk bonds have to be serviced, and that's where a large portion of the money Autotote received from the racing industry went. No surprise, then, that spending on security issues took a back seat. But the $19 million leveraged buyout of Autotote was nothing compared to Autotote's $300 million cash acquisition of Scientific Games, a lottery supplier, in 2000. Guess where a large portion of the cash came from, and what revenue "backed" the new junk bonds? If you guessed racing, give yoursel a pat on the back, and consider the answer to this bonus question: Why does it make sense to blame the tracks because they didn't pay Weil & Autotote enough to service his junk debt & meet his contractual obligations to provide a secure system, given that it was income from racing & technology developed with racing dollars which allowed Weil to acquire the the lottery co in the 1st place?

It doesn't, and as Exhibit A consider betinternet.com plc group, which is in the business of processing bets in many different languages & currencies through a "super hub" in the Isle of Man. The super hub is said to be able to process 28 million transactions per hr. The fact that this co. invested equity to purchase state of the art equipment so that it could expand its betting transactions processing business makes the spin that the racing industry wasn't paying enough ring hollow, in my opinion.

Ironically, the super hub equip was designed by & purchased from the other tote co, Amtote, so what we have is the not-unusual-anymore situation where a US co. designs & sells a system which is more advanced than anything we have in the US. Ken Ramsey, and John Pricci & many others want Autotote replaced, & so do I. Racing ought to figure out a way to cancel the Autotote contracts & open the business up to competitive bidding which includes all suppliers, for a business which Weil himself said, when talking to financial analysts, produces an "unheard of" profit margin.