dithering idiot tries to protect his monopoly

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...

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, ...

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...

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...

Sport is made for betting

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