Sport is made for betting

As mentioned on this blog earlier in the year, Australian sports fans have been overwhelmed this year by betting advertising. That's fine if you love a punt, but if you have to avoid it for various reasons, there really was nowhere to turn. Live odds updates on scoreboards, official websites carrying live prices, and most annoying of all, the repeated paid plugs with live odds read out by the commentators. There has to be a happy medium - enough to interest potential punters but also allow those with no interest to tune out. MCG Trust tackles sports gambling head-on A significant blow against the pervasive advertising of sports betting at main venues has been struck. As Fairfax reported yesterday, the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust will not renew an agreement with Betfair, which displays updated odds on scoreboards during AFL games. The MCG Trust, which controls a stadium where crowds of up to 100,000 gather, imposed the ban on live odds updates after complaints from members...

You seriously have to wonder where the brains department of Betfair have disappeared to. A TV campaign based around the theme 'cut out the middleman'. Look it up in the dictionary - Betfair are the irrefutable definition of the word: mid·dle·man     [mid-l-man] –noun, plural -men. 1. a person who plays an economic role intermediate between producer and retailer or consumer. 2. a person who acts as an intermediary. So what else do Betfair do then?? The Advertising Standards Authority yesterday banned the ad after a series of complaints, stating that the advert was misleading and conveniently forgot to mention they take out a commission.

Not really sure what any betting company has to gain by this, after all, the interestate advertising restrictions for bookmakers proved to be indefensible in court by the Victorian and NSW govts. But, it's probably worth doing the right thing in order to keep the locals sweet, get some publicity and kick on from there. Off and racing to register for betting in SA The interstate TABs have jumped in; the gentlemen's agreement is well and truly dead in the water. Betfair are there as well and I'd expect other firms to include Centrebet, Luxbet, Sportingbet and IAS. And just to show how out-of-touch with the rest of the world South Australia are, they have to do a special investigation into Betfair because laying horses is obviously evil. Yes it really is 1983 down there....

The wagering landscape of Australia has changed forever. Licensing Betfair, allowing interstate bookmakers to advertise in TAB heartlands... the Aussie punter now has a choice and the racing industry has to adapt or they will suffer if they stick to outdated ways of business. The new Minister for Racing in Victoria, Rob Hulls, and the CEO of Racing Victoria Ltd, Rob Hines, should be applauded for looking to the future and moving forward. Here's an excellent article from The Age. One thing that has always puzzled me is why races start so early in Australia. Why does the first race begin at 10.30 on Cup Day? Why do races start at midday during summer? Summer meetings in Britain rarely start before 2pm, which for Australia would be ideal - other timezones (WA, Singapore, HK, even Europe) have more opportunity to get involved. Peter V'Landys will send the NSW racing industry broke while Hines and Hulls take Victorian racing to another level.

Well at least if you have a local licence.... In news that was expected by most of the industry, the NSW and Victorian governments have backed down and admitted that their advertising restrictions on Australian licensed betting firms from other states were unconstitutional. Rumours have been rife in recent weeks that European bookmakers such as PaddyPower and Ladbrokes have been sniffing around as well for a licence. The Aussie wagering landscape has changed forever in favour of the punter. Article from the side of the those poor suffering corporate giants the TABS here . All I can say to them is boohoo, you've screwed the punter for long enough with your repeatedly-failing websites, and a monopoly on off-course betting outlets, now it's time to face competition.

Betfair's landmark vistory in the High Court this week over the head-in-the-sand protectionists of the WA Govt will shake up the betting industry of Australia like never before. Not only can a state deny a firm licensed in another state the licence to operate or use their data should they be willing to pay a similar fee to everyone else, it also will mean an end to the interstate advertising restrictions which has hampered competition for years. Now we can have a proper national racing paper, bookmakers and betting exchanges being allowed to sponsor races or sporting teams or even advertise on TV. Most states recognised the laws breached the constitution but the racing bodies, heavily controlled by the TABs, made sure no rival firm was allowed to advertise. Only NSW was anal-retentive enough to think their law would stand up in court, or at the very least, liked to wave their 'power' around and threaten anyone who dared to advertise in NSW if they weren't licensed there...