Kentucky names bet overseer

The Kentucky Racing Commission has hired Greg Lamb, a former auditor with the Colorado Division of Racing Events, to become its first supervisor of pari-mutuel wagering, a job that will require Lamb to develop policies and procedures to monitor the integrity of betting on Kentucky races.

Lamb, who worked at the Colorado post for 18 years, was scheduled to begin Tuesday, the racing commission said in a release issued Monday. Lamb was responsible for "creating and developing the policies, procedures and techniques required under state statutes and regulations to assure compliance with rules governing totalisator and mutuel department operations," the release said.

The commission has been seeking to fill the spot for many years but lacked the funds until the state legislature increased funding for the commission this year.

Lamb's work will touch on several contentious issues that are currently being considered by the racing commission. For example, a subcommittee appointed by the commission to examine wagering integrity issues recently recommended that tracks cut off wagering at zero minutes to post and honor all bets made by patrons regardless of whether the bets were transmitted in the bet-processing network.

Those recommendations were tabled at a recent meeting because of concerns by some commission members and racetrack officials who contended the policies would have a significant negative impact on handle and open up tracks to payouts that are not supported by the amount of money bet into the system.

The recommendations could come up for a vote as early as a commission meeting as Tuesday, Lamb's first day on the job.