by centreman » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:41 pm
Punters rip $50,000 from bagmen
By Christian Nicolussi
March 11, 2009 12:00am
TWO Sydney punters were yesterday denied a full payout - and threatened with legal action - after they allegedly obtained money deceptively by copying a bets rort made famous by brothel owner Eddie Hayson.
Corporate bookmaker Mark Morrissey refused to pay in full amid suggestions the punters had manipulated the tote pools of the opening greyhound event in Adelaide.
The plunge brought back memories of Hayson's infamous $700,000 sting, which featured the colourful racing identity putting huge money on rival dogs in a bid to inflate the price of the red-hot favourite.
Yesterday, Awesome Ryles started $1.30 on the track at Gawler and with the Victorian TAB, but minutes before the race drifted out to $3.20 with UniTAB and a whopping $9.50 on the NSW TAB.
The punters reportedly won over $50,000 from the tote and Morrissey - a far cry from Hayson's bonanza, but a good return for a genuine odds-on chance.
Under the country's betting rules, corporate bookies must pay out on the middle tote - in this case $3.20.
Exactly $46,896.50 was in the NSW win pool, an amount not seen by South Australia's chief steward Paul Marks in his 13 years in the top job. The win pool for the second race at Gawler was $12,138 while the third race held a paltry $5746.30.
Awesome Ryles jumped from box eight and won by 10 lengths.
His rivals were crunched and started between $4.40 and $4.70, despite one dog, Star Demon, paying $27.40 on the Victorian TAB.
Because of the blatant manipulation, Morrissey refused to settle on the full amount and threatened the Sydney pair with court action.
One punter is believed to be well known in racing circles.
In a betting first, Morrissey said: "We were prepared to pursue this matter in court under the Crimes Act of obtaining money by deception. We thought they were cheating us so they didn't take the matter any further."
The matter was so serious that Tabcorp wrote to the NSW Office of Gaming, Liquor and Racing to investigate the manipulation of money.
Marks said he had never seen so much money invested on the opening event at a midweek Gawler dog meeting.
"The dog deserved to be odds-on. We took a swab of the dog but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary," Marks said. "When we realised the size of the win pool we delayed putting up the 'all clear' until we could check with UniTAB that all bets were paid, which they were.