The betting exchange has been granted approval by Racing Victoria to publish Victorian thoroughbred race fields. “We expect to be offering markets on Victorian thoroughbred races from this Saturday, which is terrific news for Betfair\’s customers,” said Andrew Twaits, Betfair\’s Director of Corporate and Business Affairs.
Racing Victoria said Betfair went through a rigorous process which involved extensive due diligence of the systems, functions and procedures, to guarantee that the betting exchange model has the ability to meet integrity requirements.
“We\’re delighted to have received RVL\’s approval to publish Victorian thoroughbred race fields,” added Twaits. “The process we went through with RVL was certainly a rigorous one.”
“Betfair\’s integrity systems and audit trails are amongst the best in the world. The procedures we\’ve put in place following consultation with RVL will help ensure that members of RVL\’s integrity services team have access to unprecedented amounts of information to help ensure the integrity of Victorian thoroughbred racing.”
In separate news, Sportingbet Australia\’s Chief Executive Michael Sullivan has threatened legal action against Racing Victoria unless there are changes to the tax applied to corporate betting firms, which should be based on profit and not turnover.
Sportingbet Australia was one of the four corporate betting firms, together with IASbet, BetChoice and Sports Acumen, which was granted approval yesterday to operate on Victorian races.
Racing Victoria acting CEO Stephen Allanson said three other companies, Sportsbet Australia, Centrebet and Centre Racing, have been granted interim approval to access Victorian race fields until August, but to gain the final approval they still need to take the necessary steps to meet the criteria stated on the legislation.
Elsewhere, Australia\’s biggest lottery company Tattersall\’s said it plans to bid for the license to run the British National Lottery from 2009.
Inspired Gaming Group, the biggest supplier of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in the UK, said it has entered into a strategic partnership with Tabcorp Holdings to roll out its open server based gaming platform in Australia. In a separate interim trading update, the company said current trading is in line with its expectations for the full year.
In Hong Kong, Australian jockey Chris Munce and six others have been arrested in connection with a corruption investigation over a tips-for-bets bribery scam. Investigation revealed that on a number of occasions during the racing season, Munce provided tips relating to his mounts and that he had received, or was expecting to receive, dividends totalling about HK$1.6 million from bets placed on his behalf.
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