HISA's Lazarus Addresses Registration Concerns

As the Thoroughbred industry moves closer to the July 1 implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Racetrack Safety Program, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus in an open letter addressed concerns regarding the registration process May 29. 

Lazarus wrote:

Dear Thoroughbred racing community stakeholder, 

We appreciate your assistance in spreading the word on the need to register with HISA before the Racetrack Safety Program takes effect on July 1, 2022. It has come to our attention that some users have recently experienced technical difficulties with the HISA registration platform.

The primary issue has been with the two-factor authentication system that relied on text messaging, a standard measure to ensure an additional layer of protection. Our technology team has learned that, despite the success of earlier tests, HISA's text message verification codes have in many instances been misclassified by telecommunications providers as spam. While we became aware several days ago of this issue, it unfortunately took more time than expected to identify why it was happening. It has now been repaired, but it will take more than a week for the fix to fully propagate through these vast systems. Therefore, we have suspended the account verification requirement and continue to secure the accounts using alternate methods. 

While our helpdesk operators have been working around the clock, we understand that many registrants have experienced delays in receiving the verification code and/or responses from the helpdesk. We sincerely apologize for any frustration these delays have caused. 

All users who did not receive a verification code after completing the process have been automatically verified and should be receiving an email (or have already received one) notifying them of their successful registration and providing their HISA number. Tomorrow we will also initiate an outbound call campaign to verify that the automatically verified users received proper notification. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding in the initial stages of our registration launch. We aspire to deliver the high level of service this industry deserves, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure we meet your expectations going forward.

Yours truly, 

Lisa Lazarus 

CEO of HISA