The History Channel "GCA"
- From: "RussGeorgiev@xxxxxxx" <RussGeorgiev@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 23 Aug 2005 09:50:33 -0700
The History Channel
The History channel has a series they show called 'Breaking Vegas'.
Yes, the series is entertaining. The problem, they show you the
mini-cheats. Do you think all cheats get caught? In poker, none has
ever been caught to make a show about.
I understand they may want a police record to substantiate the peoples
story. But, the shows you see are about small time cheats and cheating
teams.
I can name you one gambler and cheat who won more from Las Vegas than
all the cheats combined. He was also caught and sentenced to a Federal
Prison, yet they don't dare make a show about him, mainly because he
'STOLE' too much.
Many knew of this scam and awaited Ritchie's races. He set them up at
about two a week at minor tracks and teams were in Las Vegas to bet
these races as betting them at the track would kill the odds. Since
Vegas really booked these races, betting them there had no effect on
the prices.
The scam went this way. When the right 6 horse race would come up,
Ritchie would have his jockeys on the favorites run out of the money
and the other 4 horses were methodically bet in 'House quinellas' .
In the late 80s and early 90s, this team made millions fleecing Vegas
Sports books. Far more than all other cheating teams combined. Yet, why
isn't Ritchie Sklar on the History Channel?
The answer is he cheated too much and could hurt another multibillion
dollar industry, 'Horse Racing.' Do you think the gaming industry wants
to show a program about Ritchie Sklar, who cheated these casinos and
the industry for more money than all others combined?
Yes, Ritchie was caught and served 6 months in Federal Prison for one
count of Sports Bribery.
Below is a column by well know Racing Author Jay Richard's on Ritchie
Sklar.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday, December 14, 1997
COLUMN: Jay Richards
Board should take fixer Sklar seriously
When a convicted horse race fixer admits to having fixed 1,000
races over a 12-year period, as Richard Sklar said he did from 1983-95,
you can bet embarrassed racing officials in that state will go to great
lengths to deny his allegations and impugn his credibility.
Despite the fact Sklar, 44, was sentenced Monday to a six-month
term in federal prison beginning Jan. 21 for fixing a race at Los
Alamitos in 1995, his allegations of a widespread scandal are being
downplayed by a red-faced California Horse Racing Board, whose
responsibilities include protecting the public from that very thing.
Jockey Richard Pfau also was convicted of taking a $2,100 bribe
from Sklar to hold back his mount in that race.
A thousand fixed races sounds like nonstop thievery, but over 12
years, it's less than two races a week.
Sklar's integrity certainly should be called into question, but
not his credibility.
When a convicted murderer confesses to earlier unsolved
homicides, authorities readily give credence to his story, regardless
of the killer's reprehensibility.
Whether the murderer truly believes confession is good for the
soul, or -- like Sklar -- is looking to profit further by selling his
story to the highest bidder, there is more reason to believe him than
not.
Killers sometimes divulge where other bodies are buried.
Sklar has promised to do likewise. He said he will implicate
approximately 100 jockeys and harness drivers who were his partners in
crime and will identify specific races he fixed beyond the five-year
statute of limitations for prosecution.
As an appetizer, Sklar named the late Ron Hansen, a jockey, as a
frequent accomplice, and detailed the fixing of a Feb. 3, 1989, race at
Golden Gate Fields in this column on Friday.
That's what has the CHRB and California race track officials --
to say nothing of the jockeys and drivers -- uneasy. Very uneasy.
You would have to be incredibly naive to believe the basic greed
of certain individuals does not engender cheating in racing, especially
since breaking the rules is standard operating procedure in so many
other vocations.
Indeed, there may be more carefully developed larceny through
insider trading on the New York Stock Exchange than at all the tracks
in America combined.
Sklar said he cashed on 90 percent of the more than 300 harness
races he fixed at Los Alamitos and Pomona.
Two former California harness drivers, speaking on the condition
of anonymity, admitted they frequently did business in races fixed by
"Fingers," Sklar's nickname around the tracks.
One driver specifically recounted a race Sklar had fixed at Los
Alamitos in 1986, won by Australian driver Lloyd Higgins.
The winning 9-1 exacta combination in that race was so heavily
bet off track in Las Vegas that several race books immediately ceased
taking wagers on Los Alamitos harness until it was linked by
pari-mutuel hookup several years later.
You want a motive why harness drivers, since time immemorial,
frequently have succumbed to the temptation of stiffing their horses?
Let's try basic economics, as explained by Sklar:
"I used to get drivers to go dead (hold back their horses) all
the time, because I didn't have to offer much to give them more money
than they'd get for winning the race," he said.
"I often met drivers at restaurants near Los Alamitos before the
races. When I offered them $300 or $500 to go dead, they snapped it up
in a second.
"Here's why: With an average $3,000 purse, the winning owner gets
50 percent. Of that amount ($1,500), the winning driver only gets 5
percent -- a lousy 75 bucks. And there's no guarantee that, without
help, he'd win the race anyway.
"You don't have to be a genius to figure out whether it's easier
to win for $75 or to lose for $500," Sklar said.
Federal prosecutors took Sklar seriously. The CHRB should, too.
-- HANDICAPPING CONTESTS -- Coast Resorts will be offering a
$1,000 winner-take-all prize in free handicapping contests at each of
its three properties this week, the Gold Coast (Wednesday), Barbary
Coast (Thursday) and Orleans (Saturday).
Players make a mythical $2 win bet on each of the last five races
at Hollywood Park, with the winners to be determined by highest total
payoffs.
Jay Richards' horse racing column is published Friday and Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Sklar was a former member of GCA. I't's a great possibility
he'll
be joining www.pokermafia.com soon. Ritchie and I go back over 30 years
and remain good friends.
Ritchie Sklar may be reached by mailing me.
Russ Georgiev
www.pokermafia.com
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: The History Channel "GCA"
- From: bub
- Re: The History Channel "GCA"
- Prev by Date: Re: Gary Carson on LLHE
- Next by Date: Re: BAHH: Good beat, top set holds up....
- Previous by thread: Re: Rate this lay down...
- Next by thread: Re: The History Channel "GCA"
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
