This was my fav scam, done on a bigger scale, but you get the idea, posted on the Forum many moons ago!
Bookies hit by betting syndicate
PM - Thursday, 22 December , 2005 18:37:44
Reporter: Daniel Hoare
TANYA NOLAN: It's been a well-known feature of horse racing, but now the greyhound racing industry is facing its own scandal over an alleged betting sting.
More details have emerged today of a million dollar sting on a lowly dog race on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Unsuspecting bookmakers were left shaking their heads, when a group of anonymous punters manipulated TAB betting pools, and the bookies' odds, to land their remarkable coup.
But the astute betting syndicate won't face any penalties, because their elaborate scam was entirely within the rules.
From Melbourne, Daniel Hoare reports.
(sound of greyhound race call)
DANIEL HOARE: With small prize money and even fewer die hard followers, greyhound racing is the poor cousin of thoroughbred and harness racing.
But the dogs are attracting plenty of news this week, and many say it's for all the wrong reasons.
Details are emerging about an elaborate betting sting involving an unknown number of punters who targeted a lowly greyhound meeting on Queensland's Gold Coast on Tuesday.
The greyhound in question was the well-performed, but not so well-known, Lucy's Light, whose record was impressive enough for the betting syndicate to target the dog as a certain winner.
Because greyhound racing really isn't all that popular with the punters, the TAB betting pools are normally pretty small. And that's why the syndicate targeted a dog race, because it doesn't take much money to manipulate the odds in a greyhound race.
It took about $150,000 in bets to land the estimated $1 million payout on Lucy's Light. And here's how it worked. In essence, the punting syndicate took a group of bookmakers by surprise, inflating the winning odds by 1,000 per cent in the final minutes before the race started.
Most of the bookmakers who took the bets on Lucy's Light are based in the Northern Territory. And they offer a service that's outlawed in most states, whereby they will match the same odds offered by the TAB in the state which is hosting the dog race.
So the punters set out to manipulate the Queensland TAB odds without the bookies in the Northern Territory knowing.
They did so in the knowledge that the Northern Territory bookies were legally bound to match the price of the Queensland TAB.
Using Queensland TAB telephone betting accounts, the punters placed $16,000 on each of the other five greyhounds in the race, and they left it to the last minute, so as not to reveal their plot.
By backing the other runners, they pushed the winning odds of Lucy's Luck out to $13 on the Queensland TAB – nice odds in comparison to the $1.30 dividend of all the other TABs.
And that's where they made their million. While some of the group focused on pushing the odds out on their TAB in the dying seconds before the race, the others were heavily backing the dog with the unsuspecting Northern Territory bookies.
The punting team plonked about $75,000 worth of bets on Lucy's Luck, spreading the money with a variety of bookies so as to avoid blowing their cover.
When the punters had done all they could, it was then left up to the unsuspecting greyhound to do its bit:
(sound of greyhound race call: "… Up goes Lucy's Light, takes the lead from Floatsy Maxi, now she's coming away… Lucy's Light gets away to win by seven lengths")
DANIEL HOARE: Greyhound racing authorities as well as bookies and the TABs have been left highly unimpressed by the sting.
But there's little they can do, as there are no laws preventing punters from manipulating betting pools.
And the bookies know that if they're going to offer TAB odds, there's risks involved.
One of the bookies who got caught out in the sting was Christian Sawyer, from the betting firm CentreRacing in Alice Springs.
CHRISTIAN SAWYER: What they've done is manipulated a system to their own advantage. I mean, I can't see what they've done is illegal… it's something which the (inaudible) bookmakers have tailored as a product. So it's something they've got to wear when things like this happen, so…
DANIEL HOARE: Do you think it's all fair when it comes to this type of thing?
CHRISTIAN SAWYER: Well, as I said, it's not illegal, it's probably, I mean, they've put on a sting, or a rort, depending on what you want to call it, and they've got the money, so…
DANIEL HOARE: Have you ever seen a greyhound sting like this before?
CHRISTIAN SAWYER: Not to this extent. I mean, as I said, I've seen them manipulate TAB pools before, but not to this extent.
TANYA NOLAN: One of the unsuspecting Alice Springs bookmakers, Christian Sawyer. That report from Daniel Hoare.
