By contrast, and to bring matters into focus, law enforcement authorities in this country grudgingly admit to making only one arrest for every 24 serious crimes committed.  Based on an article in US News and World Report, "For every 500 offenders of serious crimes who are actually caught and brought before the courts, only five juveniles and 20 adults are imprisoned."  You don't have to be a very bright criminal to conclude that if you're doing business in an environment where you can commit 23 crimes before being caught, and caught 19 times before going to jail, perhaps crime is not such a bad profession.  These figures represent a general average for all serious crimes committed, of course, and do not reflect ratios for specific types of criminal acts.  For example, armed bank robbers, because of the high-profile nature of the job, are apt to be apprehended and punished with much greater frequency than, say, those criminals who are afforded positions of perceived integrity.  And as can be imagined, the benefits of the latter can be enormous.

In the days when such notorious bank robbers as Bonnie and Clyde roamed the country, following the commission of a crime, they had to beat a hasty retreat in order to escape punishment, often under a hail of gunfire.  It was not uncommon for them to travel hundreds of miles to reach safety, where they remained in hiding until they struck again. Crooks who hide behind perceived integrity stay right where they are - business as usual.

Some positions in life, because of the principled track record established by holders down through history, have a legitimate aura of integrity, integrity earned by way of conduct.  True, some individuals will occasionally stray, but their isolated actions, when measured against the conduct of their peers, do not diminish the integrity of the whole.  Integrity of this type does not rely on gullibility for its success, does not have to be flaunted.

You can always spot SC integrity.  In addition to being directly or indirectly implied at every opportunity, very often practitioners of this ageless art form are attracted to the type of environment wherein they are permitted to control/police their own activities, where their calculated comments are worshipped, in many instances, with reverence approaching Biblical acclaim.

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2

The disturbing conduct of career race-fixer Tony Ciulla is but one example of the incredible ease fraud can be practiced in the gambling game of SC horse racing.  Before finally being apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ciulla confessed to having "fixed some 2000 races in 17 states at no less than 37 tracks."  A rather disturbing admission that, by any definition of common sense, makes a mockery out of existing rules and regulations, not to mention SC integrity.  Even Sports Illustrated magazine felt compelled to look into the matter: "Ciulla experimented with a number of illegal drug combinations that, in one instance, proved fatal to the horse.  Ciulla's favorite drug was Acepromazine, a powerful tranquilizer that depresses physical activity.  Many times it was a simple matter of making sure the fastest horses were given this drug, thus enabling slower horses to cross the finish line first."

For one man to fix 2000 SC races stretches the imagination, that he could commit this much fraud acting alone seems hard to believe.  Is it reasonable to assume Ciulla was able to flood the stable areas of 37 different Gambling Tracks (GTs), on 2000 different occasions, with the hoard of conspirators necessary to implement an operation of this magnitude?

Shed row is a "highly restricted" area where horses used for gambling purposes are stabled, where only those persons possessing an acceptable level of integrity are allowed, to go about their business as usual.  Rarely are members of the public permitted in these areas, and only then if the nature of their business has been thoroughly scrutinized, these restrictions being taken to prevent undesirable characters from having access to the horses and the honorable men and women who work with them.  If such tight security measures were in effect, just how did Ciulla manage to practice his profession on 2000 different occasions?  The number of agents needed to pull off such an incredible feat would be, say, in the hundreds.

In the Real World, which can be easily accessed by merely taking one step off the grounds of a GT in any direction, no thief in his wildest dreams could hope to rob 1,999 banks and remain free, to burglarize 2,000 homes, to rob 2,000 jewelry stores before being arrested.  For it is here where criminal activity is aggressively confronted by dedicated police officers, resisted at every level, vigorously pursued to its conclusion whenever possible.

Tony Ciulla may not be a Harvard graduate, but he definitely understands the difference between SC integrity and the Real World.  As common sense overwhelmingly suggests, "the number of conspirators needed to fix 2000 SC races, with but few exceptions, were probably on the inside the whole time - posing as honorable people."

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3

Anyone who has spent much time around a GT has heard the game referred to as the "sport of kings."  But is it really?  A cursory study of history reveals that horses have been pitted against each other long before kings of any ilk - particularly the SC Royal families of Europe - took up the practice.  Neither have kings ever controlled racing, nor do they now.  If you have any doubts, simply visit the shed-row area of your nearest GT, assuming you have any integrity, and you could be in for the shock of your life.  "The shady characters you will encounter," commented one longtime gambler, "for the most part, more closely resemble a police lineup."

Some 2000 years before the birth of Christ nomadic tribes of Bedouin Arabs occasionally came together to exchange goods and engage in games of riding skill, the high point of these games often resulting in the fastest horses being raced against each other over a given distance of ground.

The Bedouins were a deeply religious people who genuinely loved and cherished all animals, particularly horses.  They were looked upon as being gifts from Allah, to be revered and protected.  It was a commonly held belief in those times that "so goes the heart of a man, so goes his horse."  It was a time when honor was the only criterion by which all men were judged, and their horses were raced for the thrill and excitement associated with the true spirit of competition.

It wasn't until some time later that the notion of owner confidence gave way to items of equal value being put up for winner-take-all racing.  As many of these items proved cumbersome, money and jewelry soon entered the picture.  But horse racing was still honest. Owners still had equal amounts of valuables and money invested in the pool.  There were no powerful stimulants or depressants available at the time, no powerful painkillers that would enable an injured horse to compete.  And since there were no odds to worry about, there was no reason to hold a horse back hoping for higher odds.

What was once a proud and noble event, unfortunately, has turned into an ugly out-of-control gambling game, a view shared by countless fans who have permanently turned away in utter disgust.

In today's version of SC horse racing, an alarmingly high percentage of horses have merely become tools to make money at the gambling window, and the overwhelming majority of people who handle these beautiful animals are a far cry from the Bedouins, to be sure.    Yes, times have certainly changed.   Not only does the current game provide an environment where shoddy, brazen Form Reversals have become common place, thanks to the "exploding membership in the run-slow-run-fast gang," the popular term ANYTHING GOES has come to mean that injured horses frequently compete due to an abundance of painkilling substances.

It is estimated that over 90 percent of all horses used for gambling purposes have some form of SC "approved" medication administered on the day when they are asked to perform.  The drugs range from a host of painkillers to an injection of steroids and/or hormones, the favorites being Butazolidin and the controversial drug Lasix.

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4

Marc Paulhus is recognized throughout the industry as an equine drug-abuse expert.  In testimony given before the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Paulhus stated, "Perhaps even more reprehensible, and perhaps just as pervasive as the pre-race administration of legal painkillers, is the abuse of illegal drugs for the purpose of manipulating the performance of a race horse. Today, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of sophisticated chemical substances from which the unscrupulous trainer or veterinarian can choose.  Many of these drugs are scheduled narcotics which act as powerful stimulants in a horse when given in low dosages."

A disturbing number of uninitiated gambling fans, commonly referred to as "New Faces" by the game's Propaganda Department, are under the erroneous impression that illegal drugs can be easily detected.  Regarding this matter, Paulhus was no less emphatic:  "I'd like to be able to put a figure on the amount of illegal drugs used on the racetrack today.  There are those who contend that the drug detection programs in most racing states are woefully inadequate and that better than 90 percent of the illegal drugs administered to race horses go undetected by the laboratories. The facts, as we know them, tend to provide a reliable basis for this conclusion."

The above testimony was given some years ago in support of the Corrupt Horse Racing Practice Act (HR 2331), a get-tough fistful of legislation designed to hopefully clean up an industry beset with serious problems.  The bill called for fines up to $25,000 for cheaters, to include lengthy jail terms.  Understandably, powerful interests moved quickly against HR 2331.  Since the bill quietly went away, however, new and more powerful drugs have become available.  Synthetic stimulants and depressants, known as Designer Drugs, have been introduced.  Compliments of the black market.

Though successfully resisted by the game's purveyors, the idea of isolating horses for a period of 24 hours prior to running has been tossed around for years.  "That may get the drug problem under control," said one angry gambling fan, "but there's no way you'll ever be able to stop these guys from screwing around with horses to build odds, or so that other horses can win."

The greatest crime ever committed against horse racing was the introduction of the side-gamble, central to this version of commercial gambling.  No longer did horse owners have to place items of equal value into a winner-take-all purse.  In the new scheme of things, purse money would be provided by way of what is commonly referred to as the rake - whereby a certain percentage of every dollar gambled would be set aside for the purse.

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5

Gambling fans, in addition to providing both purse money and gambling-pool money, now found themselves pitted against the very people who were in position to control the manner in which the game was played:  individuals who had nothing to lose - and easily everything to gain - from displaying one or more bad performances.  Yes, times have certainly changed.

No longer was purse money always the biggest prize to be had.  The tremendous sums of money that could be made from "side gambling" could easily exceed purse participation.   The temptation to participate in SC horse racing quickly proved too great to overcome, which is not to overlook the incredible ease with which it could be achieved. As time went by, of course, all purse money became taxable, making the gambling window considerably more attractive.

The gambling game of SC horse racing had indeed turned the corner.  Every con man who could overcome his laughter long enough to secure passage converged on the scene.  Purse money had become little more than "icing on the cake."

While the collective intelligence of people who gamble under these conditions is thought to be "very low in some circles," gambling fans everywhere are finally beginning to look beyond the pages of the not-so-slick promotional garbage coughed up by the game's purveyors.  "If owners were forced to put up equal amounts of purse money," one disgusted player recently observed, "and the horses were quarantined for 48 hours, the day of seeing horses being gate-checked, eased up on the far turn, or plodding along many lengths off the pace, would be a thing of the past."

A gambling game is defined as one that "relies solely on gambling for its existence."  In games such as craps and roulette, where the odds of winning are always in favor of the house, promoters are fully aware that even if an individual encounters a favorable run of good fortune, common greed - over the long term - works against the player.  With money exchanging hands every few seconds, it would be ridiculous to suggest they represent anything but games of chance, and simply could not exist without gambling.