Lucy's Light Betting Scandal

[Punk Rooster]

Interesting to read in the rag this morning, that Curly Seal still hasn't paid out the 700 Gorillas for the infamous betting sting. He's appealed to the Liquor Licensing & Gaming Commission, witholding payment pending the outcome. Now I sympathise with E.V. to a degree ( ), but the Stewards have no problem whatsoever with the race, so no there is no legal reason for not paying out. Now I'm not suggesting that Curly is a welsher, not by any means, but surely he's got to cop this one on the chin, & then present the evidence to the LL & GC, so as to protect Bookmakers in general from manipulated pools? Everyman and his dog will be going to Appin straight track, with graded certainties, and thumping every other dog in the race, while the money is on with the Books. Now, the TAB's profit out of these manipulations, yet Bookies stand to lose a lot of money, & in case you have noticed, Bookies are on the endangered species list. I think it's time to end the 3 state dividends, and have one national pool. This is long over due. It will offer consistency to the punter, Bookmakers would be forced to run tighter books, as the tote will be a much truer indication of prices.

[Dutchy]

The authorities arent going to be too concerned that Curly got stung as all those bets he and others take giving TAB odds doesnt go thru the pools therefore doesnt earn the TAB a cent and he saves money by not setting prices for all these races. Very smart guys that worked this one out, good on them.

As for the country having one TAB pool im all for it. I bet last night thru both TAB's (UNITAB & NSWTAB) and NSW consistently gave better odds with many examples last night and in the end was worth an extra $100 odd for my pocket.

Bigger pools = more consistent odds and bigger exotic divvies esp in the dogs trots where the UNITAB pools verge on embaressing. Surely we could still have seperate TAB's with distributions from a new pool disbursed based on which state the bet was placed?

I read an article the other day that NSW & SUPERTAB canned there proposed merger. Dissappointing

[bayman]

i cant say too much but i believe that the person(s) that were behind the "plunge" actually only got themselves out of what they owed ( if/when they get paid) although the rest of australia & vanuato have paid

[mighty_tiger_79]

its an absolute disgrace that Curly hasnt paid out, and is still spewing about it. they choose to have a service which allows punters to pick what tote they want the divvie to be, and Mark Read, had a service which was called betta-div and he would pay more then the 3 totes combined. Im not sure if he still runs this service. But if they dont want to get 'stung' then dont have this service. The bookies left themselves opened and they got screwed, what they deserve.

If the dog had of turned in the boxes, done a hock, got run off the track by another dog or run off itself, or decided to fight then the bookies wouldnt be handing the money back to the punters.

They found the loophole in the system that these bookies operate to compete with the TAB and they got screwed, and i have been through so many boxes of kleenex for them, how dare us punters take there money.

to a degree punters manipulate the TAB prices currently, eg you like race 1 - 1 and you have a substantial amount of money on it to make it really short and then people look at it and look at the inflated odds of the other runners, back those and the one that was backed early eventually gets out to a reasonable divvie and the early punters get rewarded.

[Wedgie]

its an absolute disgrace that Curly hasnt paid out, and is still spewing about it. they choose to have a service which allows punters to pick what tote they want the divvie to be, and Mark Read, had a service which was called betta-div and he would pay more then the 3 totes combined. Im not sure if he still runs this service. But if they dont want to get 'stung' then dont have this service. The bookies left themselves opened and they got screwed, what they deserve.

If the dog had of turned in the boxes, done a hock, got run off the track by another dog or run off itself, or decided to fight then the bookies wouldnt be handing the money back to the punters.

They found the loophole in the system that these bookies operate to compete with the TAB and they got screwed, and i have been through so many boxes of kleenex for them, how dare us punters take there money.

to a degree punters manipulate the TAB prices currently, eg you like race 1 - 1 and you have a substantial amount of money on it to make it really short and then people look at it and look at the inflated odds of the other runners, back those and the one that was backed early eventually gets out to a reasonable divvie and the early punters get rewarded.

Agreed fully, great post.

[bayman]

mt79, you are absolutely spot on with what you said also we use to when it was supertab have substantial on very short priced horses for a place as usually the 2nd & 3rd favourites would be 'overs' for a place & 8/10 times you'd get a decent div obviously sometimes you'd get your money back (where's the $1.04) !!!! but i can recall getting between $1.30 & $2.10 for a place when things were 1/10 or even shorter but now you cant as unitab almost always pay money back

[Dutchy]

Sting punter wants money
By Christian Nicolussi
January 24, 2006

ONE of the punters behind Australia's greatest greyhound sting is yet to be paid and was yesterday given this sobering warning: "You might not get your money for another six months."

It is five weeks to the day since businessman and horse owner Eddy Hayson won more than $700,000 from Adelaide bagman Curly Seal.

Hayson was one of the masterminds behind the brilliant - and perfectly legal - sting which featured the dog Lucy's Light in a lowly race on the Gold Coast.

Lucy's Light was backed by Hayson with Seal - who offers tote odds - before a second party, Steve Fletcher, unloaded $16,000 on the race's five other rivals with UNiTAB.

The weight of Fletcher's money forced Lucy's Light's UNiTAB price to blow out.

Lucy's Light opened at $1.04 before starting at $13.

Hayson and another friend, who also placed a large bet with Seal, remain the only two punters in Australia yet to be paid.

All betting houses around the country and UNiTAB customers paid their customers within days of the race.

An increasingly frustrated Hayson is baffled by how long the matter has gone on.

"I'm the only man who hasn't received a cent," Hayson said.

"Every other agency has paid out, but Curly keeps refusing.

"I've basically told my friends to no longer bet with him. The whole matter is very disappointing. I just hope Curly is not stalling for time in a bid to send himself bankrupt."

Hayson will donate $30,000 of his winnings to the Cremorne Community Mental Health Centre. He will meet with the Centre on Friday and donate the money "out of his own pocket".

South Australian Gaming and Liquor Commissioner Bill Pryor yesterday said: "This matter could take a lot longer than a few weeks.

"Whichever way the decision goes, I'd say it will be going before the Independent Gambling Authority or Supreme Court.

"As I understand there's a lot of money involved and for that reason I'd say it will go before an independent review panel."

Pryor said investigations were continuing and one of the key issues was fraud.

"Clearly that is the main issue," Pryor said. "If Curly thought that nothing untoward had gone on, I'm sure he would have paid up.

"But because Curly has lodged a formal application it has become part of a legal process.

"His legal representatives only this morning lodged an extremely detailed submission.

"We have also written to Queensland Gaming Commission and requested they ask UNiTAB for their voice tapes. We've given them until January 31.

"The punters have also been given the chance to lodge a submission which they have refused to do."

Pryor said only "three or four" racing matters had come before the commission and this was the most complex.

Seal yesterday refused to rule out whether he was prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

"I'm making no comment, I'm under instructions from my solicitors not to say anything, so I hope you can appreciate that," Seal said.

The Daily Telegraph



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[Wedgie]

Absoultely pathetic by Seal, he should be arrested for not paying monies owed.

[spiderk]

Have had some mail to indicate this same thing MAY have occurred again yesterday in a lowly race at Richmond greyhounds. An odds-on favorite throughout betting, the dog, Secure Journey, inexplicably drifted right out in the last minute of betting on SuperTab only, to pay $16.20 for the win. Apparently the dog paid only $1.20 on Unitab and $1.30 or so on NSWTAB. With only small pools on the race, held early afternoon, my source indicates it is possible this may have occurred again.

[mighty_tiger_79]

well i take back my previous message on this site, but at the time that was the information we as the public had knowledge of.

According to an article in todays 25/1/06 advertiser Curly is waiting on the commission to finish its report and if its in the punters favour Curly will pay and if in his case the one punter he paid $300,000 to will have to repay that money.

its a very odd situation given that Curly is the only bookie not to have paid out.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Not all that it seems.
Young mastermind Mr Heyson is under investigation on two fronts alledgedly, both around gambling/racing issues.
Looks like Curly was the only one with enough nous to question the results.

He's also grabbed some smartarse TVSN commentator who informed the public ''don't bet on the Adelaide races with their bookies cause you won't get paid'' & thrown him & his network into the courts.

[mighty_tiger_79]

what was so illegal about the bet on Lucy's Light that he hasnt paid on?

admittedly the other alleged offences dont sound too good, from what is known.