sad news for Hayes imports from UK/Ireland

Two high-quality former European horses, with high hopes of success, have had to be put down in the last 24 hrs. Aqaleem (running in Aus as Our Aqaleem) and Changingoftheguard have both had to be put down, robbing the David Hayes stable of two very good horses. Aqaleem broke a shoulder in trackwork and Changingoftheguard suffered complications during a gelding operation.

A real shame, they looked like two of the best imports brought to Australia for several years.

Read more details at Racenet.

yeah, that'll work...

Racing NSW and the antiquated blokes in pork pie hats who think they run the show have introduced some great 'new' ideas into NSW racing.

Internet Betting Approved for NSW bookmakers

Racing NSW bowed to mounting pressure from the local bookmaking ranks by finally approving their long standing appllication to take bets via the internet on NSW racecourses or from an approved bookmaking office.

Too little, too late say the bagmen as other states still have a massive advantage over them with the range of markets they can offer.

And the best of all...


Racing NSW has also agreed to allow punters to bring laptop computers onto NSW racecourses subject to similar terms and conditions imposed on bookmakers.

These conditions, which must be agreed to by the racecourse and auditorium patrons, include the pre-requisite that such computers are dedicated units and must have Racing NSW monitoring software installed.

Punters may access only approved websites and only after making application to Racing NSW for approval to carry a laptop computer on course.

Approved laptops will be subject to an annual monitoring fee.

Who on earth is going to comply with such draconian and pointless regulations? And what's the difference between a laptop and an Iphone or Android phone these days anyway? Very little.

bizarre advertising rule by UEFA

No surprise really, a sporting authority meddling in team affairs for the sake of it...

Betclic hits out at UEFA shirt ban: 'no legal basis'


BETCLIC chief executive Nicolas Béraud has hit out at UEFA’s refusal to let French football team Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) wear his company’s logo for tonight’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid, saying it has “no legal basis”.

UEFA have banned Lyon from wearing shirts depicting BetClic as their sponsor, a deal they signed many months ago, because the French government are taking as long as physically possible to delay the enactment of local gambling regulations which are supposed to comply with European Union directives.

Rather a big free kick for Bwin, sponsor of Real Madrid, tonight then....

Centrebet up for sale

It may not be Bwin after all, as I predicted a few weeks ago, but the news is out in Australia that several different UK suitors are sniffing around the pioneer of online sports betting, Centrebet.

Centrebet rockets on takeover talks

SHARE investors piled into Centrebet yesterday as three British gaming companies loomed as potential bidders to take over the listed online wagering and gaming company.

...

Analysts said Centrebet -- which is 60 per cent owned by the family of its chief executive, Con Kafataris -- was a good fit for foreign companies wanting to get a stake in the Australian market ahead of expected deregulation.

British operators Ladbrokes, William Hill and Sportingbet are the reported overseas suitors for Centrebet and some analysts believe the takeover price could reach $2 a share.

The Productivity Commission recently recommended a swag of reforms thought to be favourable for growth in online sportsbooks and casinos in Australia.


The Australian market is undergoing major reform, the likes of Betfair, Paddy Power and Sportingbet are already out there, and there are several more to come. Most of the owners/founders of existing Australian firms - IASBet (Mark Read - sold to Sportsbet/Paddy Power), Centrebet (Con Kafataris), BetChoice (Colin Tidy), BetStar (Michael Eskander), TopSport (Lloyd Merlehan) are all on the far side of 50 and all willing to sell if the price is right. Don't expect this to be the last sale in Australia.

Centrebet have been around for a long time and have a geographical distribution of clients better than most bookmakers. It would have been top of that category 3-4 years ago, but BWin and Bet365 have probably usurped them there.

Do your homework!

A costly lesson yesterday for a Betfair in-running layer at Lingfield, where the winner in one race was matched at 1000 for £66. A late change in colours made it difficult, but as I used to stress to people in BF Education classes, use the period just before the race to confirm the colours, as often the shades in the paper or online guide are out, or there could be a late change of ownership, a damaged set of silks needed replacing or the owner has managed to leave that at home.

But the killer in this case was in the detail, as written in the Racing Post..... The winning horse was the only grey in the event, undoubtedly the most distinguishing factor in a race!

FIFA once again prove they are out of touch

Is there any other sport ruled by a bunch of more overpaid, self-righteous pompous gits out of touch with the modern day? We see cheating pricks like Thierry Henry cost the Republic of Ireland tens of millions of pounds because the referees couldn't see what every person and every camera in the stadium could. We see Birmingham today beaten in an FA Cup quarter-final because the blind bastard posing as assistant referee couldn't spot what was blatantly obvious from the same position - daylight between the goalpost and the ball as it crossed the line. If it was Pompey in the same position, it could have spelt the end of the club. In amateur days, it mightn't have made much of a difference. This is when what happened on the field, stayed on the field, all the players shook hands and had a drink together after the game. The game is a long, long way from that in 2010. Poor decisions can cost players, teams and countries millions, and hoping the guilty player will hold his hand up and admit a foul or that it was a goal? You've got more chance of finding the Loch Ness monster.

Goal line technology ruled out

What is the problem? "We should not have technology in the game" - referees wear microphones, players wear boots designed by companies spending millions on research and development, stadia and pitches are built and maintained using state-of-the-art technology. And we're certainly not using the heavy leather balls they used in the 50s. If you don't want technology in the game, then don't let people watch it at home on TV - make them go to the game. It's there already, use it!

Worried about delays? Oh, give us a break - look at what happens in rugby or tennis. It's done quickly and the crowd build up tension waiting for it.

'We want the game to stay the same at all levels' - Oh, get real. Junior football is nothing like professional football. Grandstands, change rooms, advertising everywhere, overpaid prats who shag their teammates' wives/partners, referees who get abused and surrounded by these overpaid prats when they don't agree with a decision, diving..... do we really want these at all levels of the game? The best of a sport deserves the best it can have - the best players, the best venues, the best referees (is there such a thing?), the best technology... When you have fans who are willing to start fights/kill each other over results, isn't in the public interest to remove any doubt or room to attack the referees?

What's stopping the FA/Premier League going out on their own here? Are FIFA going to sanction them? Fat chance. For good or bad, the world now revolves around Premier League football and even FIFA aren't stupid enough to ignore that.

The comment from FIFA about how wonderful it is that people are still talking about the 1966 'was it or wasn't it a goal' in the final is stupid, as you'd expect from them. They're not debating the goal, it's just English fans clinging onto the memories of the only thing they have ever won!

Time for a league to bite the bullet and tell FIFA to piss off. FIFA is irrelevant to the club game anyway.

French govt still making up data to block Betfair

Yesterday, the French Senate decided to adopt the bill aiming to "open market competition for gambling online." But sadly, their citizens will still be ripped off by limited competition, high margins and poor options.

Read the translated article from sospronostics.com

Sports betting, live betting, poker and betting on horse racing was approved (no detail whether fixed-odds racing was given the nod).

Exchange and spread betting remain prohibited, "because of the risk of money laundering and ease of addiction worse than this may cause."

There is nothing like dealing with an authority which makes up its own data, and then buries its head in the sand when proven otherwise. Every online transaction can be traced to IP addresses, bank accounts, counterparties etc - exactly how does that compare with cash transactions in PMU outlets and land casinos. Just look at the record of Australian casinos for a history of money laundering, and without a doubt that happens in every other casino in the world which allows cash..

Betfair will challenge this in Brussels at the ECJ, they will win the case, and the French government will stick their nose up at it, pfaff around and take years to rectify it, unless the EU gains the power to impose sanctions against them to comply. Don't hold your breath....

Monday news

Haven't got the motivation for a long post, so here are some brief items about what's going on in the world....

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Mark Davies, MD and one of the originals at Betfair, has a laugh about how bookie CEOs just don't get it and keep on giving Betfair free publicity at every opportunity.

The Tasmanian government have reacted to Betfair Aus's idle threats about moving interstate (or was it rumours of other govts luring them) by offering more tax breaks to sustain employment in the Apple Isle.

Leading Australian jockey Danny Nikolic could be deep in the brown stuff if the latest stewards investigation into suspicious betting activities on Betfair uncovers any concrete evidence. I'm a big fan of Nikolic, there is no Australian jockey I'd rather be on one of my horses if it was leading the race, but it is high time that a scandal in Australian racing uncovered and punished the perpetrators. No idea if Danny is involved or not, but for the good of the industry, it needs to show that it can identify crooked activity (which happened long before the arrival of Betfair, it's not a new thing) and prosecute a case against it.

The scandals in Chinese football continue as two clubs face relegation for match-fixing. This comes after recent news of players gaining national caps via bribing selectors.

Canny Irish trainer Gordon Elliot landed a 20/1 into 2/1 plunge at Punchestown last week by perfectly working around the 90 days rule. If the horse had run any sooner than the 91 days since its last start, the stewards would have called connections in to explain the sudden improvement in performance.

The UK went EastEnders crazy last week with bookies reaping the benefits of the 25yr anniversary live episode. Kudos to Bodog I believe for being the initiator of the market, which every other firm seemed to follow like sheep.

Leading Australian bookmaker Con Kafataris will be sadly missed in the Sydney betting ring, but don't cry for him not being able to make it pay anymore, he's loaded as the main shareholder of Centrebet.

Ladbrokes are following Victor Chandler into South Africa via a partnership deal with an African casino group.

and I'm getting quite frustrated with the Olympics after backing/tipping two biathletes only to have them win gold in a different event....

laying the field at the Winter Olympics

Two great events tonight for Laying the Field on Betfair - the mass start events in Biathlon. Unlike the other disciplines of biathlon, all the racers go at once, so the pressure is on from the start, and there is no early leader who can blow the field away as weather conditions change. Missed shots at crucial stages (20 shots overall, in four batches of five targets - two sets in the prone position, and two standing, can produce huge variations in the Betfair market.

So place a series of offers to lay them all at odds-on, I'll let you choose your own price, but remember this, the lower you go, the less likely you are to get two selections matched. If you get two matched below 2.0 for level stakes, you will be all green - two for small profit, the rest for the jackpot. If you get three matched at less than 3.0, it's the same scenario. Make sure you select the 'Keep Bets' option because all the volatility will happen in-play.

Last night's Cross-Country 2x15km Pursuit would have been great for it, three guys matched short - 1.01 for the winner, 1.24 for the guy who came third, and 1.4 for one who never even got into the first three.

yet another gambling firm takes up football sponsorship

Another Asian bookie heads to the UK market, following the lead of SBOBet and 188Bet.

Nearly 50% of Premier League sponsored by gaming

In the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the club’s 128 year history, premiership football club Burnley FC has announced a multi-million pound two-year deal with Asian online gaming operator Fun88, becoming the UK's eighth top flight football team to carry the name of an online gaming operator.

Under the agreement, Fun88 will have their logo emblazoned on the club's home and away shirts beginning next season. The initial two-year deal, the first time the football club has attracted international interest, represents the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the Clarets' history.

Currently this firm is very Asian-focused but is intent on gaining a presence in Europe from next football season by all reports.