The association said the Greens Oppositions Racing and Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth misused information as he raised bribery allegations related to the Betfair deal in state Parliament .
Earlier in the week, Booth presented what he called a statutory declaration from the Tasmanian Jockeys Association alleging that Racing Minister Jim Cox had offered a million dollars in workers compensation to jockeys to “roll over for Betfair.”
TJA secretary Kevin Ring said he did not regard the offer as an inducement or a bribe.
“It arose out of the fact that we were talking about Betfair and what impact it would have on workers compensation or insurance for jockeys. It was not offered to us in the context of a bribe or anything. It was talked about in the context that if Betfair came in then possibly there would be enough money to cover the cost of workers compensation,” said King.
“Mr Booth has taken the comments out of context,” he added.
In separate news, Andrew Twaits, Betfair Director of Corporate Affairs in Australia, hit back at claims that Victorian stewards were unable to sign off on inquiries because they didn\’t have the power to identify Betfair punters.
“The only reason the Victorian stewards do not have access to Betfair\’s customer details is that Racing Victoria has refused our offers to provide it to them.”
He said Betfair could provide customer names to match transaction details if certain legal requirements were met and Racing Victoria signed an information-sharing agreement with Betfair, as other major racing and sporting bodies around the world had done.
“We have made it clear to RVL that if they have any concerns about the draft information-sharing agreement, they should suggest appropriate amendments.”
“The information-sharing agreement is free, it may be terminated by RVL whenever they like and it is not linked to any intellectual property rights.”
Twaits concluded that if Betfair becomes licensed in Tasmania next week, stewards throughout Australia will have access to all betting records, including customer details through the appropriate statutory body.
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