BloodHorse sat down with Elite Turf Club president Scott Daruty in one of the most revealing conversations about computer-assisted wagering we have seen in years. On the surface, the interview looks transparent. Daruty explains definitions, host fees, international activity, and the always-contentious topic of late odds drops.

But when you step back and look at the bigger picture, the message becomes clear. The industry is not preparing to reduce CAW’s influence. It is preparing to normalize it.

And that should concern every everyday horseplayer in America.

Daruty’s explanations are polished and detailed, but behind them sits a consistent theme. CAW is now a structural pillar of the sport, and the financial dependency is so deep that reversing course would be catastrophic for certain tracks. When he says Santa Anita’s autumn meet lost “nearly 8.5 million dollars” of CAW handle in 16 days, resulting in “approximately 750,000 dollars” in lost host fees, the implication is obvious. Racing needs CAW money more than it needs retail players.

This is the real tension. The tracks’ financial survival has become tied to the very forces that many bettors believe are distorting the pools.

Daruty points out that CAW is not the only cause of late odds drops. He notes that during Santa Anita’s one-year study window, “70 percent of the late money was from non-CAW players.” That is true, but it misses the larger point. CAW does not have to be the majority of the late money to shape the odds. It only has to be the sharpest money, targeted efficiently, sent in at scale, and executed faster than the rest of the pool can react.

When CAW players can wager “more than six bets per second,” the playing field is not level, even if they represent only a slice of the pool.

Retail bettors’ declining results back that up. Daruty admits the XpressBet retail win rate “has trended down by 1.6 percent” over ten years. That is not accidental. It is the inevitable result of algorithms competing against casual bettors who are armed with nothing but gut instinct and a form guide.

It was revealing to hear Daruty say he does not believe additional independent oversight is needed. His exact words: “I don’t think there’s a need for more independent oversight.” That is a striking position considering CAW operators, ADWs, tote companies, and racetracks are financially intertwined. To many bettors, that looks less like a system of confidence and more like one of self-policing.

It is also notable that Daruty argues advantage players are the ones pushing hardest against CAW. He suggests they want CAW eliminated only because they lost their position as the “big fish.” There is truth to the idea that betting has always been competitive, but it ignores the fundamental difference: advantage players of the past were using information, not industrial-scale speed and automation.

There is a difference between a skilled handicapper beating the public and a machine beating the clock.

The most honest part of the interview may have been when Daruty admitted that CAW players can do exactly what any bettor with a spreadsheet can do—except much faster and with far more capital behind them. He said, “You have the ability with technology today to do that at more than six bets per second.” Of course, most bettors will never have the time, tools, or data pipelines to operate at that level.

Racing can call that an equal opportunity. It is not.

The BloodHorse article is informative, but it also reflects where the industry’s priorities lie. CAW is now essential revenue. Retail bettors are quietly absorbing more effective takeout. Host fees are being weaponized to control who wins. And the sport is openly planning a future where CAW remains a permanent fixture.

At CAW Tracker, we believe in transparency, but transparency is only useful if it leads to action. Bettors deserve a fair environment where late odds drops are minimized, pool integrity is protected, and the playing field is not decided by speed alone.

This interview should be a wake-up call. Not because CAW is new, but because racing is now openly telling you how reliant it has become.