A lawsuit filed in a New York federal court accuses major national industry players of engaging in racketeering through their activities in computer-assisted wagering companies.
The putative class action names Ryan Dickey as lead plaintiff and claims the lawsuit "arises from a scheme to manipulate the betting pools in horse races throughout the United States."
The Stronach Group, Churchill Downs, the New York Racing Association, Amtote International, United Tote Company, Racing and Gaming Services and Elite Turf Club are named as defendants.
The complaint claims the defendants have been running a pool-rigging enterprise "whose purpose it was to conduct an illegal gaming business and to manipulate the betting pools of horse racing tracks throughout the United States in order to allow computer-assisted wagering teams to profit at the expense of plaintiff and the other class members."
A representative of Elite Turf Club said Oct. 24 that the company would have no comment at this time.
Dickey's allegations include charges of activity constituting multiple violations of racketeering provisions of the United States code known as RICO.
"To carry out or attempt to carry out the scheme to defraud, the members of the pool-rigging enterprise conducted or participated in the conduct of the affairs of that enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity that employed the use of mail and wire facilities, in violation of (mail fraud and wire fraud laws)," the complaint alleges.
The class Dickey seeks must first be certified by the court in order to go forward, if the case gets that far. Should certification occur, the class members then face the task of proving their allegations with records the complaint says "have been deliberately hidden and cannot be alleged without access to the pool-rigging enterprise members’ or the totalizer defendants’ books and records. ... They include thousands of communications to perpetuate and maintain the scheme...."
Allegations in a lawsuit state only one side of the case. The defendants can be expected to respond to the complaint with motions to dismiss and other responsive pleadings. BloodHorse plans to report any response to the complaint. Should the complaint survive the next round of legal proceedings and the plaintiff class be certified, the court would next have to approve a notice program to inform the class about the case, what might occur next, and individual rights to opt out of the class.
The lawsuit was filed Oct. 24 in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by the multi-national law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. Attorneys signing off on the complaint are located in New York City and Seattle, Washington.
Frank Angst also contributed to this story.
