Betting review at Big M

There was something odd about the odds on Four One One on Thursday night at the Meadowlands. "We have had a few calls and emails about the exacta payout and the drop in odds in Thursday's second race," said Meadowlands Vice President Chris McErlean. "We do watch betting patterns and follow up on anything that seems like an anomaly."

At approximately two minutes to post for Thursday night's second race, a series of win wagers, totaling $50,000, were received from the Portland [Oregon] Hub on the horse Four One One [number 1]. The odds dropped from 8-5 to 1-9, lifting the odds on the other horses in the race. Four One One ended up finishing sixth and the winner, G-String Jenna [number 6], went from 7-1 to 19-1, paying $40 to win.

"Our first reaction was it was a teller mistake, but that was not the case," said McErlean. "Immediately following the race, the Meadowlands contacted the Portland Hub to confirm the wager and to identify the source. The wager came through an account wagering operation, International Racing Group, and the wager was verified as correct.

"The exacta payout [$81] was perceived to be low based on the traditional formula of win price times place price so we reviewed all the winning exacta locations," McErlean explained. "We found nothing out of line nor were there any wagering outlets with an inordinate amount of winning tickets. The cause of the lower exacta price was, in part, due to the artificial win odds created by the heavy wagering on Four One One.

"We will continue to monitor the outlet, but in this case, we could not find anything out of the ordinary other than the size of the wager," he added.--Meadowlands press release

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