Victorian racing industry booming - because they negotiated with bookies and Betfair

Some Australian states and other racing jurisdictions around the world are going backwards because of the pig-headed stubbornness of crusty old farts in charge of racing. Faction fighting over exclusive TV rights, trying to protect the totes from outside competition via unconstitutional laws or anti-competitive product fees etc. Victoria opened itself up to corporate bookmakers and Betfair betting on their high-quality racing with product fees based on profits rather than turnover (like every other business in the world), and suddenly a flood of money is coming in. This previously untapped resource is now bringing in the bucks and the same companies are investing plenty to sponsor races throughout the state.

Racing Victoria details growth

Meanwhile in NSW, head muppet Peter V'Landys is bleeding the state's racing industry dry, taking the corporate bookmakers and Betfair on in court, in a case he simply cannot win, based on any reasonable understanding of business law in the 21st century.

Any business which cannot and will not move with the times deserves to go bust. Ego is the biggest problem facing the racing industry, more specifically, the egos of racing industry figures who refuse to let go of the 'good old days' and their self-indulgent empire of power.

Comments

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

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What shits me about match-fixing 'journalism'.

The anti-wagering media bandwagon has dozens of new members this week, all weighing in an industry they have absolutely no idea about. I'm all for getting the betting industry into the mainstream but it shits me no end when they roll out reports and celebrities who simply don't have a clue what they are talking about and don't bother to check basic facts which key arguments in their story. If this was the financial industry, making errors like this would have them in all sorts of trouble, but the same level of regulation doesn't apply because finance stock markets are supposedly all legitimate and serious, whereas sports betting is just a bit of fun for people who can never win in the long-term... according to the media. This week we have seen the sting by the Telegraph which, on the face of it, looks to be a tremendous piece of investigative work into fixing in English football. But the headlines around it are over-sensationalised yet again. Delroy Facey, a former pla

Sport is made for betting

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