Club-based gambling web sites

[Coxy]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,,24 ... 14,00.html

The deals - awaiting approval from the NRL - are similar to that struck by Gold Coast Titans during grand final week. Fans will be able to bet with Sharksbet.com.au and Knightsbet.com.au on a host of sporting fixtures.

"We have to explore new revenue streams," Sharks chief executive Tony Zappia said.

"You can't quantify how much we can make out it. In hard financial times such as these, more people seem to gamble so it makes sense to benefit off that."

How classy is that? They realise that people are under financial pressure, and resorting to gambling to try and find a quick fix, so what do they do? "Hey, you're a Sharks fan, do it here, give us your money that you're spending instead of feeding your family".

What a fucking joke. Sports betting should be outlawed in this country, at least online.

 

[Coxy]

Hahahaha, yeah. How does he breathe with his head in the sand like that?

 

[mrslong]

:shock: how immoral is that statement. Taking advantage of people's weaknesses?

I'd be pretty ticked if the Broncos came out in the paper and said something like that. It's one thing to know that pokies and gambling takes advantage of a certain sector of society, but to actually come out and say it, and admit to it is poor form.

 

[mal]

Call me an asshole, but if these guys are stupid enough to spend money they dont have. Take it, or someone else will.

 

[subsbligh]

Meh - it's Zappa, no.1 candidate for media training (see Bird incident). These struggling Sydney clubs are just about bankrupt with the lost pokie machine revenue. If they can't survive, it's bad for the game, which is bad for our club.

I just about always have a punt on the footy - throw 5 bucks down on a few first try scorers, 10 bucks on overs/unders, a Friday night multi, $20 on head to head. I'd say in a given week during footy season I spend $50 on footy gambling, sometimes win sometimes lose. It adds a whole new dimension to the game - it's great.

Would be good if I could give my losses to the Broncos rather than Centrebet/TAB.

 

[Coxy]

Well, part of your losses.

And that's fine. That's a regular punt you have during the season, just a normal situation. Zappa's statement refers to taking advantage of people gambling MORE to try and get themselves out of financial stress. That's disgusting.

 

[Hamm.0]

I think the way he worded it was poor, however this was in the pipelines long before the financial crisis. Gambling is nothing new and the whole thing is a beat up IMO.

 

[Ari Gold]

The only thing more pleasing than winning money would be to win it from the Sharks. Thanks for the link Coxy.

 

[Jeba]

Hell yeh I'd be glad to take money off the Sharks or the Titans! Just make sure whatever you back through them is a 5 star special!

 

[Beachy]

What a **** joke. Sports betting should be outlawed in this country, at least online.

What a load of cobblers [icon_non

 

[Coxy]

Excellent article by the usually braindead Peter Fitzsimons.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/peter- ... 24905.html?

LET'S be clear about this. Show me a sports gambler and I will show you a loser. I don't mean one who loses every time - for of course there will be the occasional you-bloody-beauty! win. I mean that, over time, by simple dint of the immutable laws of mathematics, the sports gambler will lose money. All too often, that money is rent, grocery and mortgage money. Any objections yet? Any cries of "that's not true and that's not fair!"? Sit down and shut up. You are only saying that because you are either in the industry, or a regular sports gambler who doesn't care to acknowledge that you have been pissing your money up against the wall.

Why then would any responsible organisation encourage its members to get in on losing some more money? I don't know. You will have to ask the Cronulla Sharks and the Newcastle Knights that, and perhaps the NRL. According to a press release put out on Thursday, those clubs are set "to announce joint ventures with Betezy.com.au after the hugely successful Titansbet.com.au was launched in October. The deals are now with the NRL for final approval, and sources report are likely to be followed by another group of high-profile clubs within a week".

The press release goes on. "Sharksbet.com.au and Knightsbet.com.au, should they be approved, will offer fans the full range of sports and racing with guaranteed better odds via online 24/7 or telephone." You get the drift. Now, more than ever before, league fans will be able to lose their homes without even leaving them.

Betezy general manager Ryan Kay says: "The huge success of the Titansbet.com.au venture has demonstrated that all clubs can achieve a major income stream from sports betting." Translation: If rugby league clubs can encourage their members to become regular sports gambling losers, we can all make a lot of money.

 

[Hamm.0]

Coxy this is last years bait. It's like that last dry sun-hardened worm in the bottom of the tub...you COULD use it, however the chances of catching something would have to be slim.

P.S. You think TAB encourages the greater Australian community

to encourage their members to become regular sports gambling losers, we can all make a lot of money.

???

And if so, where has the great moral outcry been the last 20 years? eusa_think There is a plethora of gambling avenues in Australia, I hardly think these to NRL clubs creating gambling businesses is going to change the quantity of gamblers nor the amount of money gambled in Australia.

 

[Coxy]

Nothing to do with bait Hammo, I am serious about this topic.

As you say, there are a plethora of avenues to throw your money away on gambling in this country. I do not believe sports clubs themselves should be profiting from it or encouraging it. Gambling and sport share a very tenuous relationship, one which has crossed the line numerous times in the past (match fixing etc). There needs to be definite, clear, and obvious delineation between the betting agencies and the entities on which they bet.

 

[Hamm.0]

Oh right. I see your point;

Player X is in massive dept to some heavy dudes. He gets the idea to bet against himself at SportsTAB, loses the match and wins big! This is criminal.

or

Player X is in massive dept to some heavy dudes. He gets the idea to bet against himself at Sharksbet.com.au, loses the match and wins big! This is criminal.

Yup, I can see how the latter form of matchfixing is worse...

As for the "definite, clear and obvious delineation", why can't the business the clubs have started not profit from the very product they produce? Why do external agencies have the monoploy on the clubs product?

 

[Coxy]

Yeah, because those situations you've posted are SO realistic.

It's more the speculation and innuendo that can occur. Example. Mystery Punter bets $50000 on the Sharks losing their upcoming match at sharksbet.com.au, despite the Sharks being raging hot favourites. Sharks lose.

Might be nothing in it, but it looks fishy (pardon the pun).

It's a worry that gambling is seen as "part of being Australian" just like drinking excessive amounts of booze and being a racist bogan is synonymous these days with Australian pride.

I'd rather see limitations on the avenues for gambling, just as I'd like to see stronger restrictions on alcohol sale and public consumption of alcohol.

 

[Hamm.0]

Not THAT unrealistic, some very elite ex-Broncos had massive gambling problems which led them to rub shoulders with undesirable elements of the community.

I understand your P.O.V., I just don't agree with it.

I feel as though it's wrong that (in all sports) other agencies make a profit of the product the sporting clubs create, yet the sporting clubs make nothing.

 

[Coxy]

I agree. Hence my comment in the original post: "Sports betting should be outlawed in this country, at least online."

Definitely needs tighter regulation and heavy taxing from the fed government, with the taxes directed back into the grassroots of the sports that produce the products people are betting on.

 

[mick]

But how much will that change things, Coxy? It'd be the same as them banning the consumption of alochol sales at home, but leaving pubs open and keeping things as they are.

I don't like it any more than you, and I do think clubs should steer clear of any and all partnerships with betting agencies. But that line, again, is blurred when you consider the Broncos football club and leagues club is in the same building, the leagues club funding the broncos club, and the leagues club getting a HUGE percentage of their earnings through poker machines, which take up 70% of the floor space at the venue.

I also have to laugh at the "still" braindead article. I farking love it when journalists in this country come out with such fantastic stats as "All too often, that money is rent, grocery and mortgage money", and other such vague and hypothetical suggestions. Of course even one person doing it is too many, but you can't ignore what he is hinting at. It's always the way - people categorise and generalise. I should write to Fitz and let him know that I spent less than $100 on sports betting throughout the course of last year, and finished with well over $450 from that...