Racing NSW rhetoric completely ignores the key participant

Racing NSW are at it again, whipping up hysteria over the real world having changed from those wonderful old days when their mates in government could ban any rivals to their monopoly. Chairman Alan Brown addressed a meeting last Friday about concerns over the funding of racing in NSW. You can read his address here. He babbles on about paying for racing, how the corporate bookies and Betfair have changed things around etc... not once does he mention that the monopoly he is trying to support is now a privatised company working first and foremost for its shareholders. Not once does he mention that perhaps its time the punter got a fairer deal instead of being constantly shafted by that monopoly for the best part of a generation.

The world has changed. Margins for EVERY business and industry in the world have tightened. Monopolies are being outlawed by governments worldwide. Organisations who waste millions on ridiculous legal fees or because they are too stubborn to merge for the improvement of the industry as a whole deserve a major kick up the clacker. Time to catch up with the real world and learn how competition drives efficiency and better services for the end consumer, the poor old punter, who is the one who funds racing, and is always ignored in these campaigns.

The breeders at the top end of the industry invariably do well out of the sport - all their success comes from racing, the results are the ones that set the prices for their stallion fees. How much exactly do they put in to be able to reap the end rewards?

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Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

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

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Sport is made for betting

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