Barstool Sports personality and longtime horse racing handicapper Mike “Mut” Mutnansky touched on the sport’s fiercest debate this weekend, calling out Computer-Assisted Wagering groups after yet another jarring betting outcome left everyday fans shaking their heads.
Mutnansky, who returned to betting over the holiday weekend after a brief hiatus, said he was quickly reminded why he’s stepped back from the game: “What should be a $60 exacta pays just $23. How many times can you see something like that and keep investing your time and money in the game?”
The race in question — Aqueduct Race 7 on Saturday — produced an eyebrow-raising result that immediately triggered suspicion from experienced horseplayers. With the favorite off the board and two 7-1 shots finishing first and second, the exacta should have delivered a healthy payout. Instead, it came back at just $23, a number Mut described as “brutal, brutal, brutal.”
A Single Late Bet Wiped Out the Pool
Veteran handicapper and NHC Hall of Famer Paul Matties later confirmed what many suspected: a single $8,200 late exacta bet on the 7-8 combination slammed into the pool just before posting, dropping the price from 63-1 to 22-1 and gobbling a staggering 84 percent of the entire exacta pool.
“The track paid out $228,710 in winning exacta wagers,” Matties wrote. “That one bettor collected $194,000.”
Matties summed up the frustration in a phrase that is increasingly common around racetracks: “They’ve made the pools a mockery.”
NY’s 2-Minute Win-Pool Block Doesn’t Stop CAWs Elsewhere
New York racing regulators have barred CAW teams from betting into the win pool within two minutes to post. But as Mut pointed out, that restriction doesn’t apply to exotic pools — and that’s where CAWs are doing the most damage.
“CAWs can’t bet in the win pool with two minutes to post in New York, so their late action comes in the exacta pool,” Mut wrote. “And you get shit like this.”
CAW groups, which operate algorithm-driven models and wager millions with the help of massive rebates from racetracks and ADWs, can afford to flood pools with plays that distort odds mere seconds before the race begins. Retail bettors using standard apps don’t see the changes until after the race has started — or after it’s already over.
Mut: The Game is Losing Regular Fans
Mutnansky didn’t mince words about why he, and many recreational bettors like him, are losing interest.
“The game has changed — and not in a good way,” he said, noting he loves exactas but can’t justify betting them anymore. “I’m out on exactas. Done. I love them, but I can’t get an accurate price.”
It’s a sentiment echoed across social media this year as CAW-related price collapses have become routine. Even Barstool founder Dave Portnoy — an exacta enthusiast himself — has repeatedly blasted the late-odds swings caused by CAW players.
“Hopefully Dave continues to hammer the CAWs online because when he does, people take notice,” Mut added.
An Easy Fix the Industry Refuses to Implement
Mutnansky emphasized that the solution isn’t complicated:
“Cut off the CAWs with 2 minutes to post in all pools.”
Tracks have the authority to implement these restrictions immediately, but have not done so, in part because CAW players generate enormous handle and receive preferential treatment through rebates and Tote access.
Mut argues the cost is clear: the trust — and money — of everyday bettors.
“It sucks, and you have every right to be pissed,” he wrote to anyone who held the $23 exacta. “The game could be so much better if the sport stopped giving CAW players so many advantages.”
A Flashpoint That Isn’t Going Away
With more high-profile voices like Mut joining the call for reform — and more bettors documenting inexplicable drop-downs in exotic pools — pressure is mounting on racetracks and regulators to address the CAW imbalance before it drives away an entire generation of fans.
If Black Friday weekend proved anything, it’s that the CAW debate is no longer niche. It’s mainstream, it’s visible, and it’s threatening the sport’s future from the inside out.
As Mut put it bluntly: the wake-up call has arrived. Whether the industry chooses to answer it remains to be seen.
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