Three to surrender in betting scandal
Associated Press, New York
Three men accused in the biggest betting scam in horse racing history are expected to surrender to prosecutors Tuesday, the Daily News reported Monday.
The newspaper said the former frat brothers will be charged with wire fraud conspiracy for rigging computer bets for a US$3 million payout when they turn themselves in at the U.S. Attorney's office in White Plains.
Law enforcement and racing officials believe Glen DaSilva, Chris Harn, and Derrick Davis manipulated a computer system to ensure winning Pick Six tickets in the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup at Illinois' Arlington Park.
The former frat brothers at Drexel University in Philadelphia also are being investigated for two winning wagers at Balmoral in Illinois and Belmont Park in New York.
DaSilva's attorney, Ed Hayes, told the News that his client would turn himself in, but said the government had no proof that DaSilva or the others did anything wrong.
"They made bets. They won," Hayes said. "Can the government show the bets they placed are different than the bets they won? I don't think so."
A spokesman for James Comey, the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, refused to comment to the News. Steven Allen, Davis' lawyer, would not confirm that Davis will surrender, and Harn's lawyer, Daniel Conti, said only that his client is innocent.
Davis and DaSilva had phone accounts at Catskill Off-Track Betting, where racing officials have said the questionable bets were made through its touch-tone telephone system. To win a Pick Six, a bettor must select the winner in six races.
Harn was an employee at Autotote, a company that handles 65 percent of race bets in North America and was involved in the suspicious wagers. Officials said Harn had the necessary access to change betting tickets. He was fired last week.
Davis, a computer service business owner, had the only winning Ultra Pick Six ticket for the Breeders' Cup. The $12 ticket - the equivalent of six $2 winning tickets each worth $428,392 - also produced 108 consolation tickets, each worth $4,606.20 for five of six winners. The cost of Davis' bets was $1,152.
The Breeders' Cup payoff is being held up, but the other two - being called dry runs by several racing officials - were paid off. A $2 winning bet on a Pick Four race at Balmoral on Oct. 3 was worth $1,851.20. One of the winning tickets was paid to the DaSilva's account at Catskill OTB.
A Pick Six at Belmont on Oct. 5 had a three-day carry-over pool and totaled $1,259,009. There were more than 70 winning tickets, each worth $13,070, and eight were from DaSilva's phone account, The New York Times reported.
The Breeders' Cup winning bet was questioned because of the strange wager: Each Pick Six ticket was the same, each had the winners of the first four races in which only one horse was selected, and long shots won two of the races. Also, the final two races had all the horses in the field as possible winners. The bets at Balmoral and Belmont were made in a similar fashion.