Sports betting and gambling news archive
News
archive 
News
items that were displayed on the Smartgambler front
page during 2006, with the latest material appearing
at the top.
Proceed
to 2007 news archive
November
2006
Baillieu
calls for enquiry into Victorian licensing furore
Victorian
State Liberal Party leader Ted Baillieu has called
for a judicial inquiry into the Bracks Government's
handling of gaming licences, claiming there was a
"bad smell" about it. Claims about the former Labor
minister David White's negotiations in his role as
a consultant to lotteries giant Tattersalls and an
alleged cosy deal between the government and the license
sharing duopoly of Tattersalls and Tabcorp, have dogged
the ALP in the lead up to the state election.
October
2006
US
anti online gambling bill passes
Online
gambling stocks have lost significant value on sharemarkets
around the world as the US senate passed a bill that
will make it difficult for US players to bet in online
casinos, poker rooms and sports bookmakers. The bill
targets the money moving utilities and banks that
enable players to fund online gambling accounts and
withdraw from them, as opposed to targeting the players
themselves. The anti online gambling legislation was
tacked onto a port security bill and passed in the
early hours of the morning, provoking criticism from
some Democrat politicians.
September
2006
US
anti online gambling legislation
With
the US mid term elections looming, senate leader Bill
Frist has indicated that the Republican bill to crack
down on online gambling for US citizens is high on
their agenda. Amongst other things the bill would
make it illegal for US banks and credit card companies
to deal with online gambling establishments. How this
would stop US bettors from using non US based money
moving utilities like Neteller is not clear, but it
appears that this bill could constitute the most serious
threat to American online gaming interests for many
years.
The
effect could be even more widespread, as many foreign
based online gaming companies rely on US bettors for
a significant part of their revenue. Attempts at prohibition
have failed before in the US, most noticeably with
alcohol, but the combination of looming elections
and an incumbent party looking to shore up its conservative,
Christian fundamentalist base, appears to have created
the right political mix for another tilt at imposing
'morality' on the masses.
August
2006
Poker
gold goes to amateur
American amateur Jamie Gold has outlasted 8,773 players
to win the largest individual prize in sporting history,
US $12 million. Gold, a protege of poker legend Johnny
Chan, established the chip lead several days before
the end of the US $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker
main event and increased it steadily to reach the
final table with a commanding lead. Not afraid to
exchange verbal banter with his opponents, Gold dominated
the remaining players, including 2005 player of the
year Allen Cunningham who finished 4th. After 14 hours
of final table play Gold moved all in on the flop
holding Queen-rag for top pair and was eventually
called by fellow American Paul Wasicka holding wired
tens. The Queens held up and Gold was awarded the
silver bracelet proclaiming him World No Limit Texas
Holdem Champion. Gold dedicated his win to his father,
who is dying from an incurable medical condition.
August
2006
World
Series of Poker sets new prizemoney record
Over
8,500 players have entered the 2006 World Series of
Poker main event, producing a record US $12 million
dollar first prize, the richest ever for a single
poker event. Defending champion Joe Hachem of Melbourne,
Australia, was amongst the hundreds of world class
professionals to make a solid start to the gruelling
event, which will take nearly two weeks to eliminate
all but one player.
August
2006
Party time for Gamebookers owners
Well
known online bookie, Gamebookers, has been acquired
by gambling juggernaut Party Gaming, the giant conglomerate
listed on the UK stock exchange and owner of Party
Poker.
July
2006
US
judgement huge blow to online gaming sector
BetonSports,
its chief executive, David Carruthers, and its founder,
Gary Kaplan, are among those named in a 22-count indictment
in the United States alleging they run illegal offshore
gambling operations. News of the charges wiped more
than £1.2bn off online gaming stocks listed in London,
with PartyGaming diving 17%, 888 Holdings dropping
13% and Sportingbet falling a staggering 35%.
BetonSports
has been ordered by a US judge to return all the deposits
it has received from American gamblers. At the time
of its last results, US$126 million of its US$146
million worth of customer deposits came from the US.
The judge also ordered that phone companies stop offering
services to the group.
July
2006
Just
desserts expected for champion eater
Competitive
eating superstar Takeru Kobayashi is favourite with
bookmaker Pinnacle
to defend his title at the Nathan’s Famous
Fourth of July International Hotdog Eating Contest
in the US. Recognised as the world's greatest eater,
Kobayashi is 1-4 on to win the prestigious title for
the 6th straight time. Joey Chestnut, who has had
a splendid year on the face stuffing circuit and set
an American record of 50 hotdogs in qualifying, is
second favourite at 4-1.
Stop
Press!
Kobayashi eats 53.66 hotdogs in 12 minutes to win
his 6th straight title and break his own world record,
Chestnut second with 52.
May
2006
Football
betting fiasco hits AFL
The
full ramifications for punters after the AFL commission
changed the result of the Fremantle vs St Kilda game
have not yet become clear. An AFL error in prematurely
faxing the all clear to bookmakers to pay out on the
original drawn result when the controversy was still
in full swing, has greatly magnified the potential
financial damage to the AFL. It may be forced to compensate
punters who
collectively
stood to win hundreds of thousands of dollars on the
Fremantle win that the AFL eventually awarded. Newspapers
have highlighted cases such as that of Brad Valentine,
who stood to collect $32,500 from a Fremantle win
but now has to get the TAB to honour his FootyQuad
ticket after already paying out on the draw. Some
leading bookmakers such as Sportsbet Australia and
Sportingbet Australia have earned the kudos of punters
by agreeing to pay out on both results, but this will
not necessarily be duplicated across the industry.
April
2006
$568,000 Doncaster Handicap win for elderly war hero.
An
eccentric curmudgeon living in a Melbourne nursing
home has walked away with $586,000 after an inspired
plunge on Doncaster winner 'Racing To Win'. Plonking
down $114,000 in cash, which he'd thought was $110,000,
Alan Inglis (DFC) of the well known Inglis racing
family simply took an extra quinella when informed
he had fronted up more cash than he thought. That
quinella won him an extra $96,800. Asked how he would
celebrate he replied, "I'll go back to my nursing
home, take a Mogadon and go to sleep".
February
2006
Pokernetwork sold
Australasia's
best known poker website and forum, Pokernetwork.com,
has been sold to multinational poker portal Pokernews
Ltd for an undisclosed sum. The value of the popular
Australian based site soared in the past year as poker
gained profile both internationally and at home after
the World Series of Poker win by Melbourne's Joseph
Hachem.
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