Even more disturbing is this article that seems to indicate that certain wagering services (including the imfamous one in North Dakota) still provide "direct" access to pari-mutuel pools that is not available to anyone else. I am not sure what the nature of this access is but I am guessing that it lets them wait until the last possible second to make wagers using a computer program that has real-time access to odds and payouts and determines overlays and bets accordingly in an automated way. For example, they may tell the computer to bet X amount on the 4 horse to show assuming the payout is $3.00 just before the pool closes. Or they may even be more sophisticated and tell the computer to bet any exactas, trifectas or superfectas with payouts that are overlays based on the win odds, etc.

Definitely not a level playing field if this is the case...

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=38326&subsec=1

Cheers.

Chris