If the AmTote infrastructure continued to operate (and that is a very big "if"), a communication outage (even the outage of a redundant line) should never have compromised the underlying pool data already collected. The bets that were already in the pools at the point of the outage should stand. The first rule in real-time communications - always save the known valid state. Therefore, it must be the case that the pool states could not be validated (meaning they were corrupted) immediately upon the communications failure. How is that possible?
I spent twenty years developing real-time software for financial technology clients involving information terminals, dealing and matching applications, and trade execution - software where the difference of less than 100 milliseconds in distribution could be exploited in arbitrage creating an unlevel playing field. Trillion dollar businesses require that type of infrastructure and security.
The screaming over infrastructure quality in the tote business is like asking for a Mercedes on a Ford Pinto budget. Total pari-mutuel handle in 2023 was on the order of $12 Billion. Wall Street transacts approximately $300 Billion PER DAY.
The AmTote world dates back decades to ownership by General Instrument in the 1980s. It is completely unclear whether serious real-time designers have been on the inside of this infrastructure, based on rotating ownership teams, over the last 20 years.
There are only a very few ways to move this infrastructure forward. One would be for a much larger tote operator to absorb (and change) the business such as the HKJC which has its own risks politically. Second would be for a real-time operator in the fintech space to buy the business. This might happen with the explosion of sports betting. However, a complete revamp of the infrastructure in light of flat total revenues will not happen.
[See :
https://www.jockeyclub.com/default.a...ion=FB&area=8]
In my view, the biggest risk to the totalizator infrastructure is a cybersecurity breach that goes undetected for a period of time.
