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Sports betting and gambling new archive

News archive

News items that were displayed on the Smartgambler front page in 2002 and 2003 with the latest material appearing at the top.

Proceed to 2004 news archive


Tennis heading down cricket track?
September 2003. An article in the August 8 Brisbane Courier Mail stated that one Australian betting agency is keeping a secret file on two notorious players on the professional tennis circuit.

It's not often that Smartgambler sympathises with bookies, but in this case we are entirely on the bookie's side. These two blatant tennis cheats have already been the subject of much dissatisfaction from Smartgambler clients, who are concerned that more bookies will follow the lead of Sportingbet Australia and pare back their tennis exposure if match rigging is not aggressively stamped out by tennis officials.

Here is an interesting report on the tennis match fixing problem from the Age Online newspaper. Click

Archived November 2003


Tennis bookies whacked
June 2003. A number of online bookmakers have been forced to change their rules for payouts on tennis betting from 'ball must be served' to 'match must be completed.' Recent plunges by professional tennis bettors against players known by insiders to be injured have reaped huge profits and left bookies out of pocket and angry. Our sources tell us that all bets have been paid out.

Archived November 2003


Bet365 under fire on limits
June 2003. Irate punters have been complaining about low betting limits at prominent online betting agency Bet365. Limits on some head to head events as low as AUD $12 have seen punters seeing red. Smartgambler clients have produced a shame file of useless bookies with untenable limits or who ban or restrict anyone who wins more than a small amount.

Archived November 2003


Westpac introduces fee
April 2003. Westpac has dismayed gamblers by introducing a 1.5% fee on any transfer of funds from credit cards into online betting accounts. This is on top of any fees charged by online bookmakers on credit card transactions and on top of the normal interest charged by the bank. Several other banks have already flagged their intention to follow suit.

Archived August 2003


Tennis losses cause scale back
April 2003. Sportingbet Australia have reduced their involvement in international tennis betting due to losses to Smartgambler ATP package members and other serious tennis bettors. Wagering will be restricted to Masters series and Grand Slam events. Sportingbet offered consistently competitive lines on tennis but unfortunately paid the price, with several successful plunges against them by well informed gamblers.

Archived August 2003


Betfair in Aussie talks
March 2003. Successful English betting exchange Betfair have held talks with Australian gaming industry figures on licensing and other issues, flagging a possible assault on the local market.

Archived June 2003


Eskander looks at betting exchange concept
March 2003. Leading Victorian bookmaker Michael Eskander is considering opening an overseas based betting exchange to operate in the Australian market. Seemingly based on the theory that 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', Eskander's comment, "It is the betting way of the future, it is tailored for the punter", is likely to strike fear into the hearts of other bookmakers and vested interests in the Australian gambling industry.

Betting exchanges, where gamblers bet against each other and the house takes a percentage for organising the transaction, are a hot topic amongst gambling industry regulators and players at the moment, as they begin their push into the Australian market.

Archived June 2003


License to print money
28-2-03. Tattersalls has paid just $3 million to the Victorian State Government for an exclusive lottery license for the next 3 years. Tatts are expected to pocket about $120 million over that period from the deal, which by our reckoning equates to a rather fat profit from one of the stupidest forms of gambling around. Nice work if you can get it.

Archived June 2003


Roulette strike
16-1-03. A team of sophisticated cheats has reaped massive profits from Casinos Austria by substituting a magnetized ball. Full story

Archived June 2003


Bookie reneges
A Darwin based internet sports betting agency, Consolidated SportsBet, has had its license suspended for not paying monies owed. Full story

Archived March 2003


Off Track booted:
Dubious racing software outfit, 'Off Track Investments', has had its wings clipped by the Federal Court in Brisbane, with the men behind it banned from selling the software, marketed as an 'investment'. The order also applied to variations of the software 'Bankers Choice' and 'Autotab'. Full story

Archived February 2003


Bookie hit:
18-9-02. International online bookmaker SportsInteraction.com had their internal stop loss system triggered by Smartgambler clients plunging on AFL teams Brisbane and Adelaide at inflated prices. An AFL client alerted the group to the clerical error and within minutes the system shut down and refused to take further bets. SportsInteraction was later forced to void the bets and issue a red faced apology, thanking their lucky stars that they noticed in time.

Archived January 2003


Counters fail:
A public enquiry conducted by the VCGA into casino blackjack, initiated after complaints by skilled players that they were being barred from winning at Crown Casino, has recommended that the rules permitting restrictions on card counters remain the same. Eloquent submissions from expert players fell on deaf ears as the commission decided that winning money from casinos is not playing fair.

Archived January 2003


NSW bans signs:
From July 11 2002, colorful flashing signs luring mug punters into pokies venues are illegal in NSW. Only six states and one territory to go!

Archived January 2003


Arbitrage strike:
A sharp eyed Norwegian AFL package client noticed an amazing arithmetical blunder by a major international sportsbook on round 13 of the AFL season which produced an arbitrage on 3 of the 8 matches. Smartgambler members hit the site with tens of thousands of dollars worth of unlosable bets.

Archived January 2003


Stephen Clarke:
Associate Professor Stephen Clarke, the man behind the high profile Swinburne Uni footy tipping computer, will continue his successful AFL football betting package in the 2003 season. Stats guru Clarke scored the tipping equivalent of a hole in one when his computer freakishly predicted the drawn Essendon-Western match in round 14.

Archived January 2003


Tennis betting:
Smartgambler has launched another serious attack on sports betting with the release of the ATP Tour Package in September 2002. Professional tennis bettor Tony M is providing the information. Tony tipped Alberto Costa at 50-1 before the French Open to the AFL insiders group.

Archived January 2003


Loss limits for pokies players:
Crown Casino is claiming a world first with the introduction of a scheme which will allow poker machine players to set their own daily loss limits. The problem as we see it is that anyone foolish enough to play for long on the pokies is presumably expecting to win, not lose. Victorians alone lost $2.6 billion on the pokies in 2001.

Archived July 2002


Blackjack rules under scrutiny:
The Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority have taken submissions from the public to aid them in a review of the rules of blackjack. Agitation from professional card counters claiming discrimination against skilled players struck a nerve under the Bracks government. For more information visit BJ Masters which is run by a player banned from Crown premises.

Archived July 2002


Our racing expert quoted:
Pro-Punter's chief racing analyst Neil Davis was used for expert comments in the Tuesday 6th November 2001 edition of The Age online. Pro-Punter is OZmium's dedicated racing site.

Archived July 2002


Proceed to 2004 news archive

 

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