Betfair proposal attacked - Victorian racing industry virtually admits money laundering is good for racing
After recent revelations about leaks in sports betting and unknown punters being able to strike questionable bets (Melbourne Storm NRL scandal), Betfair Australia CEO Andrew Twaits put forward the idea of making all punters bet via accounts, or at least be registered so the money trail is traceable. Naturally, this would turn a few off, but the Victorian racing industry has had more than a handful of problems with dirty money being washed at the track by unsavoury gentlemen in tracksuits. When the Federal Government brought in legislation compelling the reporting of all wagers or payouts above $10k, what did they do? Simple, just have several tickets to win $5k each, bypassing the legislation. Or they would watch for a winning punter at the track and offer them a 15% premium to buy their winning ticket so they could collect 'clean' money from the bookmaker. Back in the early 90s, a member of the Gleeson family was caught as part of a race-fixing allegation at Harold Park harnes...