Penn National Back to Old Closing-Time Policy

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Penn National Race Course, which had changed its closing time on pools after two recent separate past-posting incidents, reverted to its previous policy June 18.

Because of the tote communications failures with United Tote, pools remained open during the second race at Penn National May 20 and June 5. On May 20, it took more than four minutes after the race began to close pools at all wagering outlets; on June 5, the pools were open 27 to 28 seconds after the race began.

After those two incidents affecting the closing of the pools within a two week period, Penn National moved its pool closing time forward to coincide with the first horse entering the starting gate. That change became effective June 10.

"As a result of the recent communication issues we requested that United Tote, our totalisator vendor, developed an improved redundancy plan for the closing of pari-mutuel pools. United Tote has presented us with a plan and has tested it to our satisfaction," said Rob Marella, Penn National director of racing operations. "We feel the hardware and communication configurations made will allow us to have confidence in the pool closing procedures and mechanisms going forward. Similar adjustments will be made shortly to other Penn National Gaming properties serviced by United Tote," Marella added.