No, it's not Robert Nason, the former CEO of Racing Victoria, who has recently resigned from Tabcorp and moved onto Telstra, oft nominated for the most stubborn company in Australia, it's Dr Friedhelm Repnik claiming that match-fixing would never occur if German citizens were only allowed to bet via his company.
Challenge to Baden-Württemberg Monopoly Rejected
The Chief Executive of Germany’s Baden-Württemberg Lotto company, Dr. Friedhelm Repnik, has called on the government to close illegal betting shops and step up the fight against European online betting providers, suggesting that the recent match-fixing scandal in German football is the result of such ‘uncontrolled’ betting.
Repnik’s comments followed a ruling last week by the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg, in an appeal against a cease and desist order issued against private betting shops which allegedly brokered sports bets for betting companies licensed in Gibraltar and Malta.
It's not the European-licensed firms you have to worry about idiot, it's the firms in the Far East who have no qualms about betting on under-16 fixtures, and move prices according to the money, rather than closing down winning or crooked accounts, that are just a tad more concerning. But of course, making sure nobody wins by setting over-rounds of 120% on a football match is a surefire way of stopping anyone betting who might want to win!
Meanwhile, in other self-serving, monopolistic behaviour, the Dutch goverment monopoly which argued that placing an online bet with them was e-commerce, while placing an online bet with Betfair or any other betting site was e-gaming (!), face their court judgment tomorrow. Betfair's Mark Davies has already come out and said he doubts logic will prevail here as the normal three-month period of translation for Dutch court rulings such as this one has been expedited down to just six weeks - so either they've brought in a lot of translators on work experience, or the judgment was already decided before the court case in November...
Challenge to Baden-Württemberg Monopoly Rejected
The Chief Executive of Germany’s Baden-Württemberg Lotto company, Dr. Friedhelm Repnik, has called on the government to close illegal betting shops and step up the fight against European online betting providers, suggesting that the recent match-fixing scandal in German football is the result of such ‘uncontrolled’ betting.
Repnik’s comments followed a ruling last week by the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg, in an appeal against a cease and desist order issued against private betting shops which allegedly brokered sports bets for betting companies licensed in Gibraltar and Malta.
It's not the European-licensed firms you have to worry about idiot, it's the firms in the Far East who have no qualms about betting on under-16 fixtures, and move prices according to the money, rather than closing down winning or crooked accounts, that are just a tad more concerning. But of course, making sure nobody wins by setting over-rounds of 120% on a football match is a surefire way of stopping anyone betting who might want to win!
Meanwhile, in other self-serving, monopolistic behaviour, the Dutch goverment monopoly which argued that placing an online bet with them was e-commerce, while placing an online bet with Betfair or any other betting site was e-gaming (!), face their court judgment tomorrow. Betfair's Mark Davies has already come out and said he doubts logic will prevail here as the normal three-month period of translation for Dutch court rulings such as this one has been expedited down to just six weeks - so either they've brought in a lot of translators on work experience, or the judgment was already decided before the court case in November...
Hi Scott, It's always interesting to read your views on these legal issues, to be honest they go over my head! Is the whole of Europe and the USA against online betting exchanges? As the legal systems in each EU country are brought into line, is it likely that the UK would also have to legislate against them? The way the USA shut down the customers of the big Poker sites basically overnight is quite scary. What do you reckon, is Betfair safe?!?!? MG
ReplyDeleteNo chance of the UK legislating against betting firms - it is a major industry there. The US didn't suddenly ban online poker, they just suddenly started to enforce the existing bans on online gaming. France is the only country to have specifically banned betting exchanges, the others are opposed to online sports betting completely.
ReplyDeleteThe EU says online gambling is legal and have instructed all member states to allow and regulate it - but the various countries with existing government-owned monopolies will take as long as they possibly can in order to protect what they already have.
Funny that the DFB (German FA) have themselves said that commercial sports betting in the country would mean fighting fraud and match fixing an awful lot easier - see http://tiny.cc/RwLZs (German Language). This chap is protecting his own back, nothing more, as his company would be screwed if they were actually allowed some decent competition!
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