A fiery Letter to the Editor published by the Paulick Report this week, titled “There Are Piranhas In The Pools,” sparked immediate reaction across the racing industry, including from one of its most recognizable voices on wagering policy, Pat Cummings.
Cummings, the executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation and a long-time advocate for pari-mutuel reform, intitially responded to a specific screenshot of one paragraph from the letter of which he posted on X.
The excerpt claimed that computer-assisted wagering groups were introduced to “save racing,” that they use “house-owned” systems, and that their presence has turned horse betting into “a rigged game, pure and simple.”
Cummings pushed back on several of those claims while still acknowledging the real pressures CAW activity places on everyday bettors.
“There are serious reasons why the U.S. racing wagering space needs reform, but paragraphs like this one distort reality and muddy the dialogue with inaccuracies,” Cummings said in his response.
Cummings also noted in follow-up replies that CAWs have existed far longer than many assume.
“CAWs were not introduced to save racing. They have been in the pools for more than twenty years,” he said. “The ADW they use is house-owned, but the players are not.”
He also challenged the implication that CAWs have full visibility of exotic pool structures in real time, a common belief among frustrated bettors.
“The tote protocols used are antiquated,” Cummings said. “Pick 3, 4, 5, and 6 details are not transmitted in total. They are sent leg by leg.”
According to Cummings, the real issue is that the modern volume of last-second CAW wagering is overwhelming systems never designed to handle the imbalance. This creates dramatic price shifts, particularly late drops that hammer recreational players and fuel the sense that betting has become unwinnable.
“CAW last cycle throughput stresses a system not designed to be so tilted,” he explained. “The price crunches can and do really savage ordinary players. Drops are far more dramatic than rises.”
Despite correcting inaccuracies, Cummings agreed with the broader frustration behind the letter. He reiterated that the industry needs structural reform, not finger-pointing or misinformation.
“Many levers could be deployed to adjust this, short and long term, and reform would be welcomed,” he said.
His reaction underscored a growing consensus across the sport. While CAWs have long been part of the wagering ecosystem, their scale, speed, and preferential economics have outgrown the outdated tote infrastructure that supports them.
For everyday players, that imbalance has created the feeling of piranhas circling in the pool.
For policy experts like Cummings, the path forward begins with accurate information and a willingness from racetracks, regulators, ADWs, and CAW operators to modernize the system before more bettors give up on it entirely.
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