A tall gray-haired distinguished gentleman with a briefcase stood first on line at the $50 betting window on a crowded Friday night at Roosevelt Raceway in the mid-1970s. At the same time, I waited behind 20 others hoping the clock wouldn't run out as I scrambled to make a wager in the closing moments behind others on the $2 win bet line. As an 18-year-old it didn't dawn on me immediately, but over time it became obvious that no matter how hard society begs to make things equal for people, the scales of advantage always tip towards the wealthy or those with greater influence. For the better part of the last 50 years, the term "level the playing field" has been thrown around in one form or another, with the Standardbred sport altering its course from time to time. As a bettor in the 70s, the convenience of an open line to make last-minute decisions was critical for many. The era forced players to wait on separate lines if they were placing win, exacta or triple wagers, making it virtually impossible to do all three at the last moments before a race began. Granted, not all players needed to wait to the final minutes, but the feeling was that "late money" could help sway one's opinion on to one horse and away from another, thus offering a small, if questionable, advantage. More realistically, having an advantage or an edge has always been critical to the ability to win while betting on this sport. Knowing what others don't is the secret sauce to success when the game is based on outsmarting those you are wagering against. Over the course of time, as technology evolved and wagering moved from an active grandstand to the keys on a smartphone, the balance of power shifted away from the monied and appeared to equalize the chances of all in a last-minute rush to make a bet. Of course, the great missing link in such an analysis is the structural difference from what a late bet means today as opposed to over 50 years ago. The shift in technology, along with a shrinking supply of individual bettors, has altered the flow of wagering dollars to an extreme level. In our initial exercise, leaving the $50 window out of the equation, all other players were likely the final five percent of the entire wagering pool once they completed the final bets before a "bell" went off, locking the machines. That percentage limited large moves in the final odds. Generally, it was only the $50 wagers put forth in the final moments that moved the odds significantly in one direction or another. It was obvious that those privy to inside information, while having the ability to make wagers at their exclusive betting window, had an incredible advantage over the majority of players. At the same time, it was reasonable to believe that the largesse offered the heavy hitters was customary whether at racetracks or casinos, with the house rolling out the red carpet for individuals that could improve their bottom lines exponentially. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Over the last 20 years or so the concerns over a level playing field moved away from the bettors and more on to the trainers in this sport, as owners saw a limited group winning at a higher rate than thought possible. While the use of illegal drugs has likely permeated this sport for quite some time, the focus on it became intense, with horse owners perhaps feeling like I did on the $2 line some time ago as those with private windows and briefcases filled with $100s took advantage. Whether illegal drugs can ever be fully removed from the sport is a question for another day, yet some convictions and jail sentences may have at least caused some thinking of going in that direction to alter course, otherwise risk a penalty that was once thought virtually impossible. So, while not perfect by any measure, it would appear at least as we move into 2026 that the playing field, at least when we think about illegal drugs present in racehorses, is closer to being level than perhaps it ever has been before. The presence of AI or any other computer-assisted programming over the last decade has now caused a seismic shift in online wagering. Gone are the days of needing to wait in line at a racetrack to put in bets, and with it the sport has lost all meaningful wagers that take place anywhere but the last few moments before a race goes off. The last two minutes before a race went off was once a time where bettors analyzed late money and looked to make more informed decisions. In today’s online-driven wagering system, only computers and sophisticated programs can make sense of the money already in place in the wagering pools and make precise moves to virtually guarantee success. Prior to the advent of computer-generated wagering, the concept of offering rebates likely made a lot more sense. When rewards were given to individuals taking more risk while wagering at higher levels, it seemed fair to all players. Yet assign those same advantages and allow players the "cheat code," if you will, simply is a tax on all other players. The point is that today's less-advantaged players have been leveraged off the playing field. If anything, there is a need to incentivize actual players without computers to wager on our sport. Time is running out on a game that once reveled in its challenges to handicappers. Harness racing once was a sport where those who could think could predict whether a front-runner or closer was going to win a race. The odds in an earlier era were more balanced because the races themselves were less predictable. We've moved towards a more speed-favoring bias, and by implication reduced the number of winning betting angles. For the entire sport to be on a level playing field, it may be time to take computer and AI out of the equation permanently and leave the sport to humans and equines to advance.