A simplified scenario: Suppose there are ten whales, each having 40 votes x 100$, for a total of 400 votes x 100$.
The question to ask is: Are there really 400 posts per day worth 100$ ?
From a curation standpoint, the problem is the lack of excellent content that really deserves high payouts. I am a very small curator that has only 2 cents of vote worth. Still, my sense is that most of the posts paid out don't deserve what they get. Of course the daily reward pool is constant, so someone will have to get the daily rewards - whether the content posted is good, bad, or "automated" - like statistics reports. So the rewards end up in moderately good to good posts and a few very good to excellent.
If there is great content, believe me, curators will WANT to upvote it first because that will make financial sense to them. The faster such content is spotted and upvoted, the better for the curator (whether he is a small curator or large curator).