Betting

A mate of mine has a nephew at private school in Sydney. Apparently, many of the kids are betting on the dogs, with one boy losing $1200 in a single day.

TAB's live betting allows punters to gamle even after the game has started.

Some might think the loss of $1200 is just deserts for a rich little twit with too much cash on his hands. I think it’s just one more sign that sports betting is out of control in Australia.

Here’s another one: an Adelaide businessman recently rang SA Senator Nick Xenophon’s office in a bid to warn others about online gambling during AFL matches. He’d lost $85,000 in three weeks after being enticed by one of those gambling ads that run relentlessly during televised games.

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  • St. Michael says:

    06:23pm | 13/06/11

    *sigh* Where do I begin… National banks like the US Federal Reserve and the RBA are largely responsible for the present debt crisis.  Or rather it’s not the banks as such so much as the fact the government produces fiat money—every dollar you have—which is not backed by gold or… Read more »

  • John says:

    05:32pm | 13/06/11

    Free Market only benefits the International Bankers. When two country’s run out of money, they just get loans with interest from the international bankers to purchase their goods from other country’s. Look at the US 14 Trillion, Portugal, Greece, Ireland. I personally think the International Bankers are swindling a heap… Read more »

 

Is match fixing and sports corruption a big enough problem to suggest that offenders should be thrown into jail for up to 10 years? You bet!

Cartoon: Bill Leak


There have been one or two major betting-related incidents in Australian sport. Personally, I was closely involved when Shane Warne and Mark Waugh got themselves involved with the now notorious “John the bookie” back in 1998.

But for me, the issue actually goes back further to 1990 in my days at the National Basketball League, when I first started thinking about and studying the issue.

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  • Sinkers says:

    03:57pm | 14/06/11

    Agree Mark Arbib is just trying to get in the good books of the punter. The punter’s friend my XXXX. Half the fun of punting is trying to pick the con you dill. If you think you can pick winners by studying the form guide you really do belong in… Read more »

  • I Left says:

    01:54pm | 14/06/11

    Um, has anyone told Malcom that Gabe Watson was sentenced to 12 months prison for murdering his wife. True, it was upped to 18 months after a little noise. Yes, I suppose murder is a trivial thing compared to match fixing. I wonder if Gabes wife’s last thoughts were “hey… Read more »

 

Three days after the election and punters will no doubt be biting their nails until the independents strike a deal with Gillard or Abbott to form a government. We’re still holding millions of dollars on the election result, and they could be waiting a week or so to be paid out on a head-to-head bet.

It's a photo finish.

What’s clear is that punters who backed a hung parliament at $6.00 will be among the only ones celebrating at this stage.

With the wash up then showing about 73 seats in the bag for Labor and as many as 73 for the Coalition, punters didn’t take much of a rest after a late night awaiting a result on Saturday.

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  • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

    07:29pm | 25/08/10

    I think that you are right on most of your post, only hope that the Prez isn’t Sarah Palin. Read more »

  • nosthow says:

    07:14pm | 25/08/10

    Who had money on old “Tones” Abbott ? Not much of a result was it punters ? The great white hope of the Liberal Party couldnt even get a win against a battered Labor Party ! WOW ! What a loser ! Read more »

 

From a look at the betting markets, punters seem to have lined up with pundits to call this week a nil-all draw.

Long shot: Punters still can't see Tones going the distance. Photo: Gary Ramage

While the campaign descended into a Fromelles-style bloodbath, the negativity of both sides also stagnated the head-to-head betting market and we’ll go to the polls with Labor paying $1.28 to win, and the Coalition pegged at $3.60.

You’ll remember that last week saw Julia Gillard’s campaign finally stem the haemorrhaging that saw her odds on next PM drift out to $1.62, which was as bad as they got under Rudd. Once Sportingbet took over $400,000 on Labor in a week including a bet of $200,000, they were always going to head into the election as favourites.

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  • MarK says:

    10:44am | 21/08/10

    Cheers Carnegie i will look that up. Read more »

  • Carnegie says:

    08:30am | 21/08/10

    Hi MarK, Just in case Michael doesn’t get back to you - I have watched the markets closely for the past couple of months. Just prior to Rudds axing it was Labor $1.50 Coalition $2.60, within 24 hours of Gillards instillation it was Labor $1.25 Coalition $4. The next big… Read more »

 

Cast your mind back a week punters, and remember when barely a soul backed Labor for an entire fortnight of the campaign and the Coalition were tipped to become favourite by the weekend.

The odds are getting lower… lower… Julia Gillard at the Rooty Hill RSL this week.

But regardless of how hard Tony Abbott has pedalled, the Coalition’s sprint toward the finish has not been enough. The Labor ship has righted itself and punters must reckon that will be enough for them to sail back into government.

This week, the high rollers have moved in with big bets on Labor, and have backed them into strong favourite to win the August 21 election. And although we’re still a week and a half from the big day, we know from experience that once these bets are in the result is largely beyond question.

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  • Bobster says:

    12:11am | 14/08/10

    The closer we get to August 21, the more Young Liberals spam news.com.au and The Punch. Read more »

  • Bobster says:

    12:07am | 14/08/10

    Works well then. Why don’t the Libs just do the same thing if it’s so effective. Read more »

 

There’s no doubt that last week was a long time in politics for the Labor camp.

Gillard still the punters' favourite. Photo: Gary Ramage

A better-than-expected debate performance from Abbott last Sunday had punters swarming behind the Coalition when I wrote my previous column for The Punch on the Tuesday – although some of your comments questioned whether he’d really cause the government any trouble.

By Friday, 85 percent of the money we’d taken was for the Coalition, causing them to shorten up dramatically from $3.85 into $2.50. All the chatter from the talking heads declared Labor’s campaign dead, buried, cremated following a series of damaging Cabinet leaks and the Monday Newspoll had Abbott neck and neck with Gillard.

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  • Hutch says:

    04:32pm | 05/08/10

    From memory the betting favourite has won the last 9 or 10 Fed and State elections but the last WA state election.  Very close in the NT for it’s last election but the favourite prevailed.  Same for Tas. Read more »

  • Keep on topic says:

    03:15pm | 05/08/10

    And who said Liberal supporters don’t like electioneering slogans? Read more »

 

In the hours following Sunday night’s Leaders Debate, a strange thing happened: punters started backing Tony Abbott for the first time since the election was called last Saturday.

Julia by a nose…or maybe Abbott by an ear. Photo: Getty Images

In doing so, they not only pre-empted yesterday’s Newspoll but confirmed most of the analysis about the Opposition leader’s performance in the papers: it could’ve been a lot worse.

As someone who has been taking bets on elections for years, it was a hard to imagine a bigger game changer in a betting market than when the ALP changed jockeys just weeks out from this election campaign.

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  • Freeman says:

    10:25am | 28/07/10

    Seano, bookies often loose, and can be bankrupted. larger betting agencies never loose, no matter what the result. as there payout to the winners = betts invested from both sides -10% which is their profit. bookies are forced to offer similar odds to the larger betting agencies. Read more »

  • Joel says:

    09:14am | 28/07/10

    @Beagle.  You really are like a beagle arent you?  Stupid, stubborn and unable to see the facts when they are right in front of your nose.  Go away you annoying little man. Read more »

 

News broke yesterday afternoon that the New Zealand bowls’ four (yep, bowls) tanked a game in the Asia-Pacific championships in Malaysia last month.

I'll give you three to one this will hit the little white ball

Reports state that as a result of NZ’s poor performance, the Canadian side failed to progress to the championship playoffs. One Black Jack has been stood down as a result despite denying the match-fixing allegations.

No word on how the NZ economy has reacted to the news or if Prime Minister Key is donning his whites in preparation of a statement from the Blockhouse Bay bowling green.

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  • MarcieSTONE25 says:

    03:30am | 20/09/11

    Make your life time more easy get the business loans and everything you want. Read more »

 

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