In a Zoom call with members of the racing media, NYRA lifted the curtain Friday regarding the drop in Computer Assisted Wagering play after the racing organization put certain “guardrails” in place intended to limit the wagers of the CAW players.In July 2021, NYRA became the first racing organization in the United States to establish a timing restriction for CAW activity, shutting off the win pool to CAW players with two minutes to post. A more significant step was taken in Dec. 2025 when CAW players were not allowed to wager into all other pools within two minutes of posts. The moves were meant to keep CAW players from betting large amounts at the very last second, creating the type of noticeable volatility in the odds that had draw the ire of retail customers.Prior to the implementation of the latest CAW guardrails, CAW players accounted for 20 to 22% of the total wagering. That figure is now down to 12 to 13%.The focus of the call was also on the volatility of the pools–how much and how dramatically did prices change within the last few minutes of wagering. Basing its study on the Exacta pools, NYRA found that there were few significant fluctuations in prices once the new rules were instituted.“We're measuring ourselves post putting in these guardrails specifically in the Exacta,” NYRA CEO and President David O'Rourke said. “Initially we saw roughly a 45 to 50% reduction in the late volatility of those odds and we'll show some charts on that. That's held steady since that first few weeks. So it's been extremely consistent.”O'Rourke said the organization had heard enough complaints from retail players to know that there was a problem. The easiest way to drive away a player is to watch win odds go from 4-1 to 8-5 at the very last second while the Exacta falls from $56.00 to $33.00.“This is all about the player,” he said. “This is about feedback, the customer experience. Over the course of specifically the last year, but even the last few years, from the public and the core wagering group, we've been hearing frustration in terms of primarily late odds movements. We're in the pari-mutuel business in the sense that we're trying to improve the experience for the wagering public. In terms of who wins the game, that's not really in our purview at all here, as we're looking towards this objective right now. So we've developed some tools and what we've developed is a volatility index.“I haven't actually heard in the last few months too many outcalls on our product. I'm sure there's an instance or two, but I do believe that by throttling down the amount wagered toward the end, we have brought down this volatility.David O'Rourke | CoglianeseO'Rourke admitted that, at least for now, keeping the CAW players at bay has affected all-sources handle. NYRA is a part-owner of the Elite Turf Club, which caters to CAW players, so the CAW rules could be costing them money there, too.“As far as total handle, depending on the meet or the month, the drop could be anywhere from eight to 10% of handle,” O'Rourke said.He continued: “Is this just a rationalization of what's the right balance in this market? And when you start to affect market dynamics, you want to be very acute in what you're trying to achieve. And right now our objective is to bring down the volatility. It's not a Luddite type thing where we're trying to eliminate computers. We're just putting in some, I guess you would say, resistors towards the end in terms of you can't just walk up to the table and dump a bunch of money on it and affect everything at the very last second. So these are more like circuit breakers, I guess, but there's an economic cost to it. But the question is, does that handle become destructive in nature in terms of the consumer experience.”While the NYRA tracks have led the way when it comes to implementing CAW guardrails, Jack Jeziorski, the president of NYRA's content management solutions, said others have begun to ask NYRA questions about the positives of limiting CAW play.Obviously, the CAW players who have been betting on the NYRA races cannot be happy.“I don't exactly have daily conversations with these folks.” O'Rourke said. “Nobody's happy when you change something. Actually, I wouldn't say that. If you go across the spectrum, some players actually embrace these changes because they want a healthy ecosystem. We're seeing the most dramatic change in visible pools because people don't want to show their hand to other players or the public possibly. Has there been pushback? Yeah, there's definitely been some pushback from a few groups, but the main pushback would be just not going to play. There's lots of places to play.”Have any CAW players stopped playing the NYRA races altogether? O'Rourke said there have been about 20 different CAW teams playing the New York races.“We have not seen any CAW teams leave altogether, but some are dramatically down,” he said.” Not altogether, no, but dramatically down.”O'Rourke said that NYRA's study into the impact of CAW wagering is in the beginning stages.“The main thing that this endeavor is an investment in our retail players,” he said. “I mean, we're committed here to improving the experience, so we'll keep updating as we go through and once we go through the summer. I imagine we might sit down again. This could be adjusted at some point, but the adjustments would be thought through and measured. We started this, we're roughly three months out. You need to give this time.”The post With Guardrails In Place, CAW Play At NYRA Has Fallen appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.