Tonights Christmas final at Ballarat race 7) ill be backing #3 Caruso

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Yep won at $3.80 was happy with that one.

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Stung ones twice shy
22Dec05

THE Queensland TAB believes Australia's corporate bookmakers will be forced to change the way they bet on greyhounds after a sophisticated sting at the Parklands dogs netted a punting syndicate about $1 million.

The Lucy's Light betting fiasco has been hailed by industry veterans as a modern-day sting.

Gaming giant Tabcorp is now demanding an Australia-wide ban on bookmakers being allowed to copy TAB totalisator dividends.

Northern Territory corporate bookmaking firms lost $500,000 in the sting, believed to have been orchestrated by a former Sydney dog bookie.

Shattered Adelaide bookmaker Curly Seal yesterday revealed he alone lost a massive $600,000.

"If you said (I lost) $600,000 that wouldn't be far off the mark," said Mr Seal.

UNiTAB delayed declaring the dividend in the controversial Gold Coast staying race on Tuesday after the hot favourite, Lucy's Light, eased in the market from $1.30 to the remarkable dividend of $13 when the dogs jumped from the traps.

UNiTAB declared the extraordinary dividend, saying the sting was 'clever and devious' but legal.

In what was a six-month planning operation, a punting syndicate waited for Queensland's best stayer, Lucy's Light, to race in a weak staying event at Parklands. The dog won by eight lengths and nearly broke the track record, after copping an early check.

Three minutes before the race, Lucy's Light was paying $1 for the win, or money back, on the Queensland TAB.

It was about this time the syndicate placed bets with many leading bookmaking agencies, which pay out on the final Queensland TAB dividend.

Just after the bets had been placed with the betting agencies, the syndicate put five separate $15,000 bets on every runner except Lucy's Light.

The inflated win pool five times the normal amount allowed Lucy's Light to drift out to odds of 12-1.

After Lucy's Light bolted in, the betting agencies faced a massive payout after the win.

UNiTAB's wagering boss Shane Adams said yesterday there had been nothing illegal about the sting.

"Basically, from our point of view, there were five dogs heavily backed to beat Lucy's Light and they simply lost their money," he said.

"Obviously, if they have bet elsewhere and received a much better price on what was clearly a $1.30 chance, good luck to them.

"The dog still had to win."

The punters who received odds of $13 were not complaining.

"It's been a very clever exercise but you have to understand that from our point of view, no one has done anything wrong," said Mr Adams.

"They just backed five losers with us.

"I think the fallout from this will be that corporate bookmakers change the way they operate.

"I'm surprised it hasn't been done before this."

Speculation is rife that the syndicate boss is a former top Sydney bookie, now based in Queensland.

Tabcorp wagering boss Michael Piggott described the incident as a disgrace and warned of the ongoing threat to the integrity of TAB pools and racing if this type of bookmak-ing service was allowed to continue.

"Although bookmakers lost out in this case, the average TAB punter and bookmakers' customer is at risk from such bookmaking activities," he said.

"Tabcorp has warned about this type of TAB pool manipulation for years.

"Thankfully, governments in all other jurisdictions except the Northern Territory have now outlawed TAB-odds betting by bookmakers.

"We see it as manipulative and totally unfair."

The syndicate set up legitimate betting accounts with several interstate betting firms including Centreracing, Sportingbet, Sportsbet, Betezy and Mr Seal in Adelaide.

Centreracing's Chr-istian Sawyer said it was the biggest sting there had ever been on a dog race in Australia

We will see poor old "curly" at the pie stall now.

Dont worry "Curly" You can share my pie. /
I dont look down my nose at the down and out.

Cheers.
darky.

If I remember one of Kenchar's old posts about the way he bets he said this sort of thing on a smaller scale is what he bases some of his selections on. One (or more) horses being backed in to inflate the price of another. It's just that these guys did it a bit more seriously. Good on them, any angle as long as it's legal and doesn't involve pulling horses or whatever is fair game. It's what the whole betting game is about.
(Apologies Kenchar if I remember your old post wrong).

KV

KV, you are right, I am sure that it these sorts of things on a smaller scale then Kenchar keeps an eye out for. I once remember a pre post favourite in the morning paper drifting out to 25's and winning. The only reason I could put it down to was that the track condition changed from good to slow and the horse had poor form in the wet.

Good onya Bacon69er.
Thanks for that.
Makes me feel less miserable when I lose now.

And Oaksnaf.Id you gonna make comments about the runners in a race,please try to establish the possible chances.
You're reading was excellent but from a punting perspective ,all the dogs bar one had a great chance.

KV,
You remembered the method exactly, but is always midweek with small pools, ( it's the only way it can work), but the difference to what I look for is a person or syndicate that is trying to gain an extra 1 or 2 points, and to gain that their LOST investment is only very minimal.
I take my hat off to the guys that pulled the sting off, BUT what no one has even thought of it was a dog race and strange things do happen.
If the dog had got bowled over would all of the whining bookies have said anything, I bet not.
The syndicate would have lost a massive amount if this happened.

Cheers.

For the sale cup on Monday over 650 metres i will be backing #5 Lord Monelli

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