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The Big Gamble: Four Corners - Monday 20th May 2013
Australians love sport and they love to gamble. Put the two together and there's lots of money to be made. Across the globe sports betting is dominated by huge, faceless corporations with deep pockets, all looking for market share.
By contrast in Australia, the industry might be growing but it certainly isn't faceless and for that it can thank one man. His name is Tom Waterhouse. Son of a bookmaker and top line horse trainer, he's made himself the face of sports betting in Australia. Taking out advertising slots on the Nine Network, he was also given a place on the network's rugby league commentary team. It was the boldest move yet by an industry that's taking every opportunity to grab publicity:
'I can promise you that if you open up one page or you watch TV for one quarter, you will see betting advertising. You know, I think it's just gone past the point of no return now and we need government legislation.' Former AFL player and self-confessed gambling addict
Critics claimed that by embedding himself in the sports broadcast during prime time, Tom Waterhouse was blurring the lines between the business of gambling and sports commentary. But Waterhouse isn't the only betting agent being criticised. Across the board, advertising by betting agencies is on the rise; and while it's one thing to sell a product to adults, others are concerned about its potential impact on children:
In this opening episode of Cheating Vegas, we learn the classic tricks and scams that vegas cheaters pull to get away with millions. We learn how to spot a c. With a long-held love for the City of Sin, the genial Louis Theroux heads to Las Vegas to meet the people prepared to bet their bottom dollar.
'...we're actually educating a whole generation of Australians, not only is it alright to bet, but you're a mug if you don't'. Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett
The bad publicity Tom Waterhouse attracted didn't improve when he was accused by media magnate John Singleton of getting inside information on the health of Singleton's prized mare, More Joyous, trained by Gai Waterhouse. Although a stewards' Inquiry cleared him of any wrong-doing, the sensational publicity surrounding the affair is escalating concerns over the entire sports betting industry.
Next on Four Corners reporter Marian Wilkinson investigates the industry, talking to its critics, those inside it and those trying to rein it in. What does it offer sport? Is match-fixing a serious threat? Should governments protect children from the excessive promotion of sports gambling?
THE BIG GAMBLE, reported by Marian Wilkinson, goes to air on Monday 20th May at 8.30pm on ABC1.It is replayed on Tuesday 21st May at 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00 pm, ABC iview or at abc.net.au/4corners. (https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/)
Transcript
THE BIG GAMBLE - Monday 20 May 2013
(Montage of sport betting advertisements)
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: He's here, he's there. It seems he's everywhere.
PETER FITZSIMONS, SENIOR WRITER, SMH: It's bullshit. It is ridiculous on football coverage to pretend to have a conversation to say 'what are you like in the fifth at Randwick?'
KERRY O'BRIEN: Now he and the industry he's dragged into the spotlight are under attack.
JEFF KENNETT, FORMER VICTORIAN PREMIER: This promotion and advertising of sport betting has more potential to disable more people in our lifetime than anything else.
KERRY O'BRIEN: The gambling free for all of sports betting. Welcome to the program. Tom Waterhouse is bookmaking aristocracy. Controversy has dogged his grandfather Bill, and his father Robbie, now he has his own. With the saturation advertising campaign, he has put sports betting on Australia's gambling map like never before. So successfully in fact that he's now the prime focus of a public and political backlash.
Sports betting is still just a pimple on the backside of the gambling industry here. Poker machines dominate, followed by horseracing. But the big global players have moved into Australia and along with the likes of Tom Waterhouse, they want growth in the newest gambling game on the block, and they think a nation with the taste for punting we are notorious for, is ripe for the plucking. Where the controversy comes in is with the realisation that the very youngest and most vulnerable of sports fans might be drawn into the culture of gambling like they never have before, with potentially worrying outcomes. An added concern borne out by the latest allegations of match rigging in Indian cricket, is that the more money washing around, the greater the temptation for corruption within the various sports.
In this report, Marian Wilkinson investigates a high stakes industry, whether there is such a thing as excessive promotion in this rampant media age, and whether children should be protected from it.
REPORTER I: The enquiry is to begin very, very shortly.
REPORTER II: I think the first question the Stewards will ask at the enquiry today will be to Gai Waterhouse.
REPORTER III: It was all played out of course on national television, the pair clashing in the mounting yard.
REPORTER IV: The body language between Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton hasn't improved.
REPORTER V: All of the identities involved in this racing scandal
REPORTER VI: Yes that's right they've both arrived.
JOURNALIST I: Tom, is your reputation on the line today Tom?
JOURNALIST II: What are you expecting from this morning Tom?
JOURNALIST III: Do you maintain you've done nothing wrong, Tom?
JOURNALIST IV: Do you think this can be resolved in anyway Tom, are you nervous or how you feeling?
MARIAN WILKINSON, REPORTER: Tom Waterhouse is arguably the best known name in Australian bookmaking today. But this was never part of his million dollar marketing campaign.
(Footage of John Singleton arriving at Stewards Inquiry.)
JOURNALIST: Is the truth going to come out though John, are we going to know really what happened?
JOHN SINGLETON: I assume that's the idea.
CHANNEL 9 JOURNALIST: Do you think More Joyous is no good and the information was passed onto Tom?'
JOHN SINGLETON: You know, Tom, how many times buddy?
MARIAN WILKINSON: A spectacular showdown between the horse racing media magnate, John Singleton, and the bookmaker's mother. All forced to appear before a fraught racing steward's inquiry.
JOHN SINGLETON: Sorry I couldn't say more.
JOURNALIST: Morning. How are you feeling?
JOURNALIST: Are you looking forward to clearing the air today?
MARIAN WILKINSON: Gai Waterhouse, Sydney's celebrated trainer, furious at being accused of leaking inside information to her son, Tom, on the health of Singleton's horse.
JOURNALIST: How are you feeling about the enquiry?
JOURNALIST: Thinking for words? What's going through your mind right now?
JOURNALIST: Are you hoping for a resolution today? Are we going to see an end to the enquiry and some answers perhaps?
MARIAN WILKINSON: Robbie Waterhouse, husband to Gai, father to Tom, forced to re-live his own colourful history with the racing stewards.
JOURNALIST: Thinking for words? What's going through your mind right now?
JOURNALIST: Are you hoping for a resolution today? Are we going to see an end to the enquiry and some answers perhaps?
MARIAN WILKINSON: Robbie Waterhouse, husband to Gai, father to Tom, forced to re-live his own colourful history with the racing stewards.
Robbie Waterhouse (laughs)
JOURNALIST: You haven't seen anything like this for many, many years mate?
MARIAN WILKINSON: Last week Tom Waterhouse emerged victorious in the battle with Singleton before the racing stewards. But this victory overshadowed a far more serious threat to the ubiquitous bookmaker.
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISMENT: How do I know what NRL punters want? You tell me.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The public anger at the saturation marketing campaign to promote his sports betting business.
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISMENT: ...back your team with me at Tom Waterhouse.com.
MARIAN WILKINSON: It's fuelling a national revolt not only against Tom Waterhouse. The relentless promotion by big gambling companies across almost every professional sport in Australia is sparking calls for urgent political intervention.
SAMANTHA THOMAS, ASSOC. PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG: Obviously our most critical concern is around children. That children become so softened to these products that they become a normal part of their experience of being a fan.
DAVID SCHWARZ, FORMER AFL PLAYER: I can promise you that if you open up one page or you watch TV for one quarter, you will see betting advertising. I think it's just gone past the point of no return now and we need ah, government legislation. We need intervention either at a state level or a federal level.
PETER FITZSIMONS: How hard is that part, that when we have kids, ah seven years old, eight years old, five years old, discussing the odds and, and, and we have ten year olds lining up to get an autograph from Tom Waterhouse because he's so glamorous, doesn't somebody in Canberra think, 'yeah, don't know if this is, don't know if this is working.'
(NRL match tape, Broncos dressing room, March 15)
CHANNEL 9 BROADCASTER: That is a very happy Bronco's dressing room and why not. It was a win for the ages, that'll go down in the club's DNA, Tom Waterhouse and Ray Warren joining Phil Gould and myself to talk about the weekend wrap...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Friday night, March 15, the Brisbane Broncos crushed the St George Illawarra Dragons. That same night, the backlash over the bookmakers took off. Dropped into Channel 9's expert Rugby League panel was bookie Tom Waterhouse giving the odds on upcoming games.
COMMENTATOR: You've got the Cowboys and the Storm, very hard to separate these two.
TOM WATERHOUSE: Yeah there's been a stack of money for the Cowboys. They've been 202 into a $1.91. Ah Storm's drifted, six day back up, ah travelling...
COMMENTATOR: Talk about the Randwick Guineas …
MARIAN WILKINSON: Then up came the odds on the Randwick Races.
TOM WATERHOUSE: I think Brassier's going to have the edge on it. It will probably sit second or third. Mum's got it perfectly primed she thinks it's got a lot of ability.
COMMENTATOR: Rabbs, can you see it's a Done Deal sweeping down the outside and beating them all?
RAY WARREN, NRL COMMENTATOR: Yeah I can, I can...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Many sports fans were just outraged.
RAY WARREN: It's a Done Deal would win the race...
PETER FITZSIMONS: There on the 15th of March we had the commentators, you know, they're all there, what? What's Waterhouse doing? So they say to Tom, you know, 'Tom, what do you think about the fifth at Randwick tomorrow?' And it's, it's, it's awful.
COMMENTATOR: I think last week it was Green Moon that let you down in your multi, what's your weekend special?
PETER FITZSIMONS: I know those commentators, they're good guys. They're doing what they've been told to do. But you can see them dying inside, because it's bullshit. It is ridiculous on football coverage to pretend to have a conversation, to say 'what do you like in the fifth at Randwick?'
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TOM WATERHOUSE: Look you can back all your favourites, four favourites, and if Manly lets you down, you get your money back. $6.88, we're now seven dollars on the site go to tomwaterhouse.com and if Manly let you down then you get your money back.
MARIAN WILKINSON: For the National Rugby League this was not just a PR disaster. Channel 9's decision to put the bookie on its sports panel to spruik the betting odds tested the NRL's own guidelines.
SHANE MATTISKE, GENERAL MANAGER OF STRATEGY, NRL: Well it wasn't consistent with our view on how sports betting promotion should take place, and it wasn't consistent with the view of the major professional sports. And Channel 9, to their credit, have responded to both the concerns we've raised and to the concerns the public's raised.
(Tom Waterhouse at Manly Friday Night Football)
TOM WATERHOUSE: Well Manly verse the Bulldogs, the money's come big time on Manly. They're the $1.80 favourites and there's a few key reasons for it...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Channel 9's response was to take Tom Waterhouse off its sports panel but leave him on the footy field with his own microphone.
TOM WATERHOUSE: And remember, gamble responsibly.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The concession has done little to quell the anger of sports fans.
NRL FAN: The bloke's not a football expert, don't need to see Tom Waterhouse every single ad break on television. Ridiculous, thank you very much.
TOM WATERHOUSE: These teams have plenty of points in them with both their games last year…
MARIAN WILKINSON: But overlooked in the public furore is the big gamble being played out by Tom Waterhouse himself.
TAB SPORTSBET ADVERTISEMENT: With TAB Sportsbet you're on…
MARIAN WILKINSON: His private company outbid Tabcorp, the leading wagering company in Australia, to get the slot as a major advertiser on Channel 9's NRL broadcasts.
TAB SPORTSBET ADVERTISEMENT: You're on!
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISEMENT: I'll give you your money back …
MARIAN WILKINSON: It's a contract speculated to be costing Waterhouse $10 million this year. His competitors are watching in amazement.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Is that a big spend for a private company?
MATTHEW TRIPP, FORMER CHAIRMAN, SPORTSBET: Absolutely. I'm not sure how he could be getting a return on his money at the moment but as I said he may have a, a five, ten year plan um, and good luck to him if he has but he's, he's really, you need deep pockets to do what he's doing. He's going about it in a way that we didn't go about it but that's not to suggest that it won't work for him.
(NRL Headquarters, Moore Park)
MARIAN WILKINSON: More controversially, the NRL also opened negotiations with Waterhouse to become its official gambling sponsor, giving him in ground advertising at the games.
SHANE MATTISKE: TAB or TAB Sportsbet has been our primary partner over the last six years. So we went into a commercial negotiation and we did talk to a number of parties, and towards the end of that negotiation Tom Waterhouse emerged as the preferred partner.
MARIAN WILKINSON: But in a serious blow to Waterhouse's ambitions, the NRL tells Four Corners those negotiations have now broken down.
SHANE MATTISKE: We've been negotiating with Tom since the early part of the year and at our Commission meeting on the 19th of April ah we reported that we had failed to reach an agreement. Ah, so we're simply at this stage we're holding, ah the Commission is in discussions now assessing the current position, and we'll make a decision on how we move forward in relation to the sports betting space.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Is it fair to say that the, for this season at least, the negotiations with the NRL and Tom Waterhouse are over?
SHANE MATTISKE: Yeah, that's correct. We failed to reach agreement around terms with Tom Waterhouse.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The NRL insists the breakdown is not a result of the public backlash. And they're looking for a new betting sponsor.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Before the grand final?
SHANE MATTISKE: It is possible. Um, we'll be moving forward and considering that position. Of course there's a range of controls and ah, restrictions that we place on the partners that we have, ah and particularly in the sports betting space, and they're something that has applied in the past and something that would've applied to any partner that we reach terms with in 2013.
(Montage of sports betting promotions)
MARIAN WILKINSON: Sponsorship from big gambling companies pours millions of dollars into professional sports today. Official betting sponsors buy in ground advertising at stadiums. Clubs take money for naming rights on jerseys. This is on top of the television broadcasters selling advertising to gambling companies.
PETER FITZSIMONS: If the sugar daddies of the sports betting have got huge cheques that they can write, they will take it and they'll justify it after-afterwards. The networks, Channel 9, Channel 7, Channel whatever, the commercial networks, they're business organisations, they're business organisms, they will move in a manner and they will put to air what they can get away with to get the big cheques.
BET365 ADVERTISEMENT: Hello, I'd like to tell you about bet365.com the world's biggest online sports betting company.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The advertising cheques have got bigger with the arrival of giant global bookmakers in Australia.
BET365 ADVERTISEMENT: They do great odds on a massive choice of sports…
MARIAN WILKINSON: It's created cut throat competition in the local gambling market. Global players are buying up local betting agencies and tackling Tabcorp head on for their punters. The numbers being spent on gambling promotion are alarming the public. One hundred and twenty two million, last year. And a 20 per cent jump so far this year, thanks in part to local boy Tom Waterhouse joining the competition.
CORMAC BARRY, CEO, SPORTSBET: So it's very much about him trying to get share from the existing players and because he's late into the market, and the market for having been deregulated since 2008, he's arriving quite late to start. So I think he has to go harder than anyone's had to go previously to try and address that that disadvantage that he has from starting late. That's the consequence of his strategy. Everyone knows who he is, but he is beginning to annoy people.
(Marian Wilkinson and Cormac Barry walk thru Sportsbet trading room)
CORMAC BARRY: So this is the trading floor of Sportsbet, on our left here we have the sports traders and the right we have our racing traders...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Cormac Barry is Chief Executive of Sportsbet in Melbourne, now fully owned by the giant Irish Bookmaker Paddy Power.
MARIAN WILKINSON: And how important is it for these guys to get the price right?
CORMAC BARRY: It's absolutely essential, so all of these guys will have very good mathematical ability...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Its modern trading floor is more like a bank's than a bookie's, because Australian gambling is a serious billion dollar business.
MARIAN WILKINSON: These are the guys who are doing your risk analysis for you?
CORMAC BARRY: Absolutely, so these guys would monitor the customer's behaviour, the customer's bets, they would look for patterns in those bets...
MARIAN WILKINSON: But it really began to attract the big global players only after restrictions on gambling advertising were lifted by the High Court five years ago.
CORMAC BARRY: Australia appealed to us because it was a mature gambling market and that the advertising regulations had changed. So we were confident that we could compete for share within that market.
SPORTSBET ADVERTISEMENT: Yeah! The bikini, one of man's greatest inventions but will it help you bet on your mobile, cryo blah blah genics...
MARIAN WILKINSON: When it comes to grabbling market share, the ads are aimed straight at young men.
SPORTSBET ADVERTISEMENT: Mobile betting from sportsbet.com.au, the greatest invention since betting.
SAMANTHA THOMAS: A lot of these commercials we see very sexualised images of women um and we would say that that clearly shows that the target market is the 18 to 35 year old man. Now in terms of who these actually appeal to we would say the audience is much younger...
MARIAN WILKINSON: So this is one of the famous bikini series from Sportsbet...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Associate Professor Samantha Thomas has been tracking the growing effect of sports betting advertising on teenagers and young men.
SAMANTHA THOMAS: They spoke a lot about gambling becoming embedded within their peer groups, that it became part of their match viewing experience. A lot of young men talking to us about the fact that if they didn't gamble they felt isolated from their peer groups. So those sorts of new patterns, those new cultural norms, they're associating gambling with sport, are really starting to make us concerned.
JEFF KENNETT: We're actually educating a whole generation of Australians, not only is it alright to bet, but you're a mug if you don't. And I think that is a terrible message for community to be sending out. I'm not opposed to gaming, I'm not opposed to betting, at all. But I think adults can make their choices, wherever appropriate, but to be actually forcing this promotion down the throats of children from very early ages is self destructive.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Former Victorian Premier and ex Hawthorn President, Jeff Kennett, has been accused of attacking sports betting while being part of the poker machine industry. But he's not backing down.
JEFF KENNETT: I'm not arguing against gambling. I gamble myself. What I'm arguing against is a community allowing sports betting agencies to advertise so openly and direct their advertising not at you and me but at young people from the earliest ages possible. Young families go to the football, three, four, five and six, they're seeing all these signs. They're seeing their father, betting on their phones. That's what I'm so opposed to.
MARIAN WILKINSON: It's Friday night in Melbourne. That's AFL night at Etihad Stadium. And the fans are psyching themselves up for the St Kilda Collingwood clash.
BOY: Go the Pies!
WOMAN: Go Saints, woo!
MARIAN WILKINSON: Most are not big punters. Betting on sport is only around three per cent of the gambling market. Far below pokies and horse racing.
WAYNE HARLEY, ABC PRODUCER: So who do you reckon is gonna win?
FAN 1: Collingwood of course mate.
WAYNE HARLEY, ABC PRODUCER: You put a bit of money on it?
FAN 2: Nah.
FAN 1: Nah mate we don't risk money, money's important to us.
MARIAN WILKINSON: But sports betting has been growing at a rapid clip in recent years. And it's easy to see why. Gambling advertising is right in the fans' face.
COLLINGWOOD SUPPORTER: Nah it gets a bit tiring after a while, especially after our team kicks a goal, and it's every time it comes with goal and sport bet underneath it. It gets a little tiring, I mean a lot of families have lost you know, dad's and parents and brothers to gambling and if they go to the footy and see that it's just that, you know nasty reminder.
SAMANTHA THOMAS: When you're watching a sporting match you'll see commentators talk about the odds, you'll see screen crawls, you'll see pop ups, you'll see logos on jerseys, signs around the hoardings, you'll see commercial break advertising. Then if you go to your mobile phone you'll get email alerts, text alerts, pop ups...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Even bigger growth in sports betting is just around the corner. Corporate bookmakers are lobbying hard to take online betting in Australia to new levels of excitement. In the UK you can bet online on a sports game during the game. It's called betting 'in play.' It's both lucrative for the bookies and popular with the punters. But in Australia you can only bet 'in play' over the phone or at a TAB outlet. It's banned online.
CORMAC BARRY: Australia is one of the only countries in the world where which allows sports betting on line but doesn't allow betting in play. I think there's very little difference between the two types of bets.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Do you think you'll eventually get that ban lifted in Australia?
CORMAC BARRY: I think at some point it'll happen, um. A betting man, I think it's very difficult in the current political environment, um. We would be hopeful there'll be change during the term of the next Government.
(Centrebet Advertisement)
MARIAN WILKINSON: Indeed the global bookies are laying odds the ban will be lifted. And Australia's lucrative online sports betting market will really take off.
LAUREN EAGLE, AUSTRALIAN ATHLETE: Fire Up.
SAMANTHA THOMAS: With that App on your phone you can access these products 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without having to leave your seat. So that means that you can act instantaneously on the messages that are given within a football match about gambling or backing your favourite player.
(Footage from Randwick racecourse)
MARIAN WILKINSON: For many Australians this is still the place to have a flutter for fun.
FASHION PARADE COMMENTATOR: Let's get down to the proceedings of the day, we're going to kick off with the best dressed female...
MARIAN WILKINSON: It's Derby Day at Royal Randwick. They're lining up for the fashion stakes. And the great celebrity race of the Autumn Carnival.
RACE COMMENTATOR: Black Caviar racing away from Neverland, Black Caviar doesn't let us down.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Wagering on horse racing still overwhelmingly dominates sports betting. But its growth has been static. And the old oncourse bookmakers are disappearing.
DOMINIC BEIRNE, FORMER BOOKMAKER: The bookmaker as I played and as Rob Waterhouse did at the time those days have gone at the track the corporations have taken over really. I was down in Melbourne a few weeks ago for a major meeting and it was really quite you know sparse in the betting ring and I you know, I think that um it's all about price and there's a limit to what the on course bookmaker can offer and you know he struggling to compete...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Robbie Waterhouse, Tom's father, still works as a licensed bookie at Randwick just like his father before him.
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISEMENT: I wasn't born to win a major...
MARIAN WILKINSON: But his business interests are intimately connected with his son's rapidly expanding dot com juggernaut.
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISEMENT: With four generations of betting knowledge in my blood I was born to bet. Join me tomwaterhouse.com.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The rapid rise of Tom Waterhouse is no surprise to former bookie Dominic Beirne who once competed with the Waterhouses to be the biggest name in Sydney bookmaking.
DOMINIC BEIRNE: Today to be a force in the corporate world you have to start off with some tens of millions. It doesn't surprise me though that um, it's been a desire of Tom to grow rapidly. He has spent many, many years looking over looking over his grandfather's shoulder watching everything that his grandfather did and when he started his grandfather used to guide Tom with his book. They've always been a very, very dominant force in bookmaking.
MARIAN WILKINSON: But the Waterhouse dynasty has also tested the racing regulators over the years.
(Footage from 1980s)
JOURNALIST: Do you expect to receive a stay of the loss of licence in Wollongong.
ROBBIE WATERHOUSE: That would be up to Judge Goran...
MARIAN WILKINSON: In the 1980s Robbie Waterhouse and his father Big Bill Waterhouse were embroiled in one of the nation's most sensational scandals.
RACE COMMENTATOR: Two fifty metres to go, Fine Cotton's still the leader, he's about a neck in front ...
MARIAN WILKINSON: It was an audacious ring in. A winning galloper substituted for a knackered loser called, Fine Cotton, by a crooked trainer.
RACE COMMENTATOR: Lunge right on the line, they hit oh jeez this is close...
MARIAN WILKINSON: There was no evidence linking the actual ring in to the Waterhouses. But racing stewards did find they had prior knowledge something was up.
JOHN SCHRECK, FORMER CHIEF STEWARD, AJC: At no time did the AJC or anybody suggest that they arranged the thing or anything like that but, but they as licensed persons knew what was going on and attempted to profit from it, um which they ought not to have done...
MARIAN WILKINSON: John Schreck was the Chief Steward at the Australia Jockey Club at the time and investigated the Fine Cotton affair.
JOHN SCHRECK: When you take out a license you're expected to answer questions, expected to answer them truthfully, even if you incriminate yourself. And it was decided that - and again by the courts, the courts of the land actually, that Mr Waterhouse had lied under oath ah during the course of that, that appeal.
MARIAN WILKINSON: That was Robbie Waterhouse?
JOHN SCHRECK: Yes, yes.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The AJC ensured Bill Waterhouse and his son were warned off racetracks around the world for well over a decade. A penalty the former chief steward still insists was right.
JOHN SCHRECK: Most people think that horseracing is crook anyway, which I don't think it is, but most people do and those sort of things just reinforce that view and so you've got to, you've got to stop it and when you do, if someone does that sort of thing and pop their head up well, then you have to chop it off.
COMMENTATOR: Last followed by 'Four Tracks for Kid' and 'Red Leaders' is out the back last of all
MARIAN WILKINSON: Tom's mother, Gai Waterhouse, has always risen above the family's controversies. When she secured her horse trainer's licence, she restored the family to racing royalty.
GAI WATERHOUSE: What you learn in racing, the expression 'cop it on the chin' if you can't cope with the defeats you shouldn't be in the sport. So that's the furlong, More Joyous...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Now her close relationship with her son is under attack because of the perceived conflict of interest it throws up between a trainer and a bookie.
TOM WATERHOUSE ADVERTISEMENT: An all day Gai Waterhouse money back special. If your horse runs second to one of Gai's at Randwick this Saturday, I'll give you your money back. Bet with me on your mobile at tomwaterhouse.com.
RAY MURRIHY, CHIEF STEWARD, AJC: Ask me in a perfect world 'would it be nice to ensure that there was no bookmaker licensed in a family with a trainer or a jockey?' Yes. History'll say it's happened a few times. Not as high profile as this. But is Gai Waterhouse entitled to a trainer's license? Yes, she is. Is Tom Waterhouse entitled to have a, a, a bookmaker's licence? Does he have the necessary skills, the financial backing? Of course he does. You know, maybe Racing NSW will need to sit down and just see whether there's further checks and balances can be put in place. But it'd be a brave person to say we're going to take the license off him, him or her, simply because we got some unfavourable publicity.
(John Singleton at Randwick with Racing Reporter)
JOHN SINGLETON: When Gai's son knows last night exactly the result today the conflict of interest becomes a bit personal.
RACE COMMENTATOR: And they're off now, Rangy Rundo is the best out...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Three weeks ago the conflict of interest accusation took off when John Singleton's prized mare, More Joyous, ran second last at Randwick.
RACE COMMENTATOR: All Too Hard beat Rain Affair, Fiorente flashed home to get third, and then in behind them next we had More Joyous and last in was Smokin' Joey.
JOHN SINGLETON: I was going to put $100,000 on her and then I found when her own son who's a bookmaker saying she's got problems that I didn't know about...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Singleton claimed his trainer Gai Waterhouse leaked confidential information on the horse's health problems before the race to her bookie son. The claim not only scandalised racing. It put the new face of the sports betting under intense national scrutiny.
CHANNEL 9 COMMENTATOR: There's no doubt there's a strident conversation and they are not best of friends at this point.
CHANNEL 9 COMMENTATOR II: And there was a fair bump play on as Gai walked away there and a little elbow into Singers and Tom, Tom Waterhouse, you're with us I have to ask you he's also mentioned your name and talked about the fact that you thought that the horse had problems before the race. Did you say that publicly?
TOM WATERHOUSE: I never said that it had a problems, I never knew that it had a problems. Mum would never had started it if it had problems...
COMMENTATOR: But she looks well, she's a beautiful girl...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Channel 9 faced a fresh PR furore over Tom Waterhouse its big NRL advertiser. It got worse when its star commentator, Rugby League legend, Andrew 'Joey' Johns, was named as the source for Singleton's allegations.
FOOTY SHOW PRESENTER: I know we're a Rugby League show Joey but in the papers this morning your name is mentioned in this spat that has developed between John Singleton, Gay Waterhouse, Tom Waterhouse's name mentioned in there, can you tell us the story?
ANDREW JOHNS, FORMER NRL PLAYER: Well I was just chatting to Tom Waterhouse just before we went on air, I just simply said 'do you like anything on the weekend, what's your thoughts?'
FOOTY SHOW PRESENTER: Any discussion on the health of More Joyous?
ANDREW JOHNS: No, no there was no discussion of the health at all. I just asked his thoughts, if it was off, you know that's all he said.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Last week Johns, reluctantly appeared at the steward's inquiry into the More Joyous affair saying he feared for his Channel 9 job because Tom Waterhouse was a major advertiser.
JOURNALIST: Were you surprised how much they gave you a grilling?
MARIAN WILKINSON: John's agreed Tom Waterhouse told him he 'didn't like' More Joyous before the race.
JOURNALIST: What are you hoping from Andrew Johns today?
JOHN SINGLETON: The truth mate.
JOURNALIST: The truth?
MARIAN WILKINSON: John's also agreed he told Singleton about their exchange. But he strongly denied Tom Waterhouse told him about the horse's health problems. More stunning was Johns' revelation he'd discussed More Joyous with his mate, the brothel owner, Eddie Hayson.
JOURNALIST: Are you glad it's all over today?
MARIAN WILKINSON: Hayson told the hearings he had a source on the health of More Joyous connected to the Waterhouse stable and decided not to bet on her.
Abc Gambling Documentary Tv Show
CHANNEL NINE REPORTER: Central to the Steward's enquiries is this man, Eddie Hayson, now the nation's largest punter.
MARIAN WILKINSON: A legendary punter, Hayson, has been called to front a Steward's inquiry before.
RAY MURRIHY: Eddie Hayson was a very big player as a punter at the time. He was betting in hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's well known that he has a certain type of club and it became known to me that some of our jockeys were frequenting there and it was a meeting place. Now, I didn't think that was a very healthy look for racing and i didn't think it was very healthy for integrity and I, I said it.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Hayson's brothel, Stiletto, is one of the grandest in Sydney. It infamously hosted footballers and jockeys while Hayson was a racehorse owner and betting big on racing and sport back in 2006. Hayson was never charged by the stewards.
EDDIE HAYSON, BROTHEL OWNER: Look, I probably walk a fine line but I know where the line is, and I'm certainly not going to break the law.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Last year, Tom Waterhouse took a caveat over the brothel after Hayson ran up more than $3 million in gambling debts to the bookmaker. But Hayson told the steward's inquiry last week this debt is settled and he had no grudge against the Waterhouse family. Tom Waterhouse was cleared by the stewards' inquiry last week, although warned against using his mother to promote his business.
RAY MURRIHY: I don't think anyone looking at the evidence we had could have made a finding that Tom Waterhouse was privy or passed on privileged information.
AMERICAN TOURIST: What's going on here, are you guys famous?
TOM WATERHOUSE: No.
MARIAN WILKINSON: But the sensational hearings could not have come at a worse time for Waterhouse and sports betting. Public concerns over the industry are boiling over.
PETER FITZSIMONS: The more that sport and gambling is all mixed together, the greater likelihood that you're going to have a cancer, a corruption of the soul of sport, that you're gonna have guys when there's $5,000 riding on who scores first. I tell you what, I'll score, you score, you do the penalty, I'll, I'll kick the, you beauty. I mean it's, it's gotta happen. It has got to happen.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Betting scandals are still rare in Australian professional sport. But in 2010 Canterbury Bulldogs player Ryan Tandy landed one right in the lap of the National Rugby League.
NRL COMMENTATOR: An ugly looking tackle on the penalty comes right in front of the post.
MARIAN WILKINSON: A big betting plunge on an exotic or micro bet for the first penalty goal in a match between the Bulldogs and Cowboys rang alarm bells. The NRL turned to the chief steward of NSW Racing for help.
RAY MURRIHY: We were able to get CCTV footage of the um, of the cash bets and of course we're able to track right around Australia and even in New Zealand betting, unusual betting on the first goal penalty was very cleverly done in that it was placed in multiple bets and hidden away from someone just looking at you know, win-loss records.
REPORTER: As Ryan Tandy arrived for his first court appearances since he was charged with lying to the NSW Crimes Commission, police were yet to reveal the NRL betting scandal had deepened.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Ryan Tandy was found guilty of match fixing, fined and placed on a good behaviour bond. The revelations during the case, including Tandy's own gambling problems, prompted all the codes to beef up their integrity units.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Are you confident that the Ryan Tandy case is an isolated case?
SHANE MATTISKE: We're doing everything we can. As I said, we've put in a range of measures, not just our integrity unit, but the codes of conduct that exist, the education programs that we've got running across the board. So those measures are all aimed to eliminate that risk and we're doing our very best to do that, and we're confident we're being successful.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The big corporate book makers argue they work closely with the codes to track any suspicious betting plunges. Well regulated online sports betting is the best front line defence against match fixing, says Sportsbet's CEO.
Abc Gambling Documentary Cast
CORMAC BARRY: it's much easier to track activity on the internet 'cause it's account based. We know who our customers are. We have integrity agreements with the sporting bodies. We report any suspicious activity to those sporting bodies. The main risk to integrity is through anonymous, anonymous cash betting or offshore betting. So the examples we've seen in Australia are anonymous cash betting in the TAB with the Ryan Tandy case. We've seen SP bookmakers operating on the waterfront and we've seen um offshore bookmakers trying to influence matches. There's absolutely no incidents to date of an online bookmaker being involved in an integrity issue.
MARIAN WILKINSON: But some regulators fear the risk of corruption is rising as corporate bookmakers offer more exotic bets on scores and penalties to attract the punters.
RAY MURRIHY: The real concern is that if there's infiltration by criminal elements ah where people are given favours or are trapped because of debts ah whether it's gambling or other, to involve themselves in manipulation of the exotics, I think that is something we've got to be very, very alive to. I think there needs to be a reigning in of those bet types. I've said that publicly time and time again and ah, because that's encouragement to eh corruption.
SEN RADIO ANNOUNCER: G'day everybody, welcome to 'The Run Home', big show coming your way and let's get straight to the big man, David Schwarz, g'day Ox.
DAVID SCHWARZ: Hello Marco.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Former ALF star David Schwartz is today a much loved entertaining sports jock.
DAVID SCHWARZ: But Durn, Durn was good at it...
MARIAN WILKINSON: But during his famous career he was consumed by a desperate gambling addiction.
DAVID SCHWARZ: Sport is sexy. Elite sport is really sexy, I found myself getting swept up. I, my judge of character was terrible. I trusted everybody.
MARIAN WILKINSON: He's copped criticism for working with the pokie industry to promote responsible gambling.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: And look I'm a massive, massive fan of Jack...
MARIAN WILKINSON: But he's deadly serious in warning the sports betting industry that vulnerable players and their managers are being targeted by match fixers.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: They should have pulled him into line a long time ago...
DAVID SCHWARZ: I would be very surprised if we didn't have most of the codes here in Australia being infiltrated as we speak um, by some by someone or somebodies or organisations, if...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Trying to match fix?
DAVID SCHWARZ: Yep. Um if I had play - if I had a young man, if my son was going into the game now, I'd be making sure that he had the most competent manager that I could find, someone that is respected, someone that is that is trusted. I'd be ensuring that my son kept his friends very close, um and didn't allow people into that inner circle until they were absolutely proven trustworthy.
(Joint Parliamentary Committee sitting in Sydney)
RICHARD DI NATALE, SENATOR, AUSTRALIAN GREENS: I contend to you it is more dangerous because at least watching a kids program you don't have Big Bird talking about the odds of getting two plus two right.
MARIAN WILKINSON: The public backlash over the promotion of sports betting is now mobilizing politicians on all sides.
ANDREW WILKIE: Mr Waterhouse was invited to attend but regrettably he wasn't available...
MARIAN WILKINSON: A joined parliamentary committee is expected to call for new curbs on sports betting advertising next month.
RICHARD DI NATALE: My point being is if you're a young person...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Several bills, including one from the Greens, are pushing to ban gambling advertising in sports games broadcast during children's viewing hours, even on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
RICHARD DI NATALE: pertaining to, to kids shows.
RICHARD DI NATALE: We've got this crazy loophole that says you're not allowed to advertise to young kids ah during children's viewing times if it's a gambling product, and yet we allow um this constant bombardment of betting ads during sports broadcasts during children's viewing times, so it makes no sense and we've got to close that loophole.
CORMAC BARRY: If there was compelling evidence that that advertising was increasing harm to society and increasing the likelihood of children going on to develop a problem, absolutely I'd support that. In the absence of any concrete evidence of that basis I would not support that as I believe we have a legitimate right to advertise what is a legal product in Australia that a huge amount, amount of people enjoy.
DAVID SCHWARZ: I've spoken to thousands and thousands of kids and hundreds of school teachers um and from year seven onwards there are kids betting and betting regularly um...
MARIAN WILKINSON: How do they do it?
DAVID SCHWARZ: Well, how do kids get into nightclubs underage? How do how do kids drink before they're 18? You know they're clever. You know, the internet is an amazing place.
RICHARD DI NATALE: What the minister needs to do is he needs to show some courage. He's got to stand up to the industry and he's got to legislate. He could do that simply. Ah he would have the support of the parliament, I'm sure. He'd have the overwhelming support of the community who are fed up with this entanglement of gambling and sport.
MARIAN WILKINSON: Two years ago, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy promised to rein in the promotion of sports betting.
STEPHEN CONROY, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: You won't need to have Richie Benaud telling you and urging you here's the odds on who's gonna get out next or who's going to bowl the next no ball and telling you to go online and start betting.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: TAB Sportsbet have it the other way round...
MARIAN WILKINSON: But his latest voluntary agreement with the big TV broadcasters will simply put limits on the promotion of live betting odds around matches. It won't ban gambling ads when kids are watching.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Here the Dragons started the game a $1.48 favourite...
(Stephen Jones in community meeting)
STEPHEN JONES, LABOR MP, THROSBY: The reason I did that is when I asked them...
MARIAN WILKINSON: Some even in his own party believe it's not enough.
STEPHEN JONES: The pot that was just bubbling away is now boiling over and people are calling on the community leaders to do something about the incessant promotion of sports gambling. People might say...
MARIAN WILKINSON: At a recent meeting on New South Wales South Coast, Labor backbencher Stephen Jones got a clear message about problem gambling in his electorate.
COMMUNITY MEETING ATTENDER: Now in that group is a 20 year old that has a gambling problem. So much so that he bets on everything and is now in debt and has to take out a loan to pay his debts...
MARIAN WILKINSON: The backbencher is now drawing up his own bill to ban sports betting advertising in kids TV hours.
STEPHEN JONES: We've seen you know the promotion of sports betting go from almost nothing to what seems to be ubiquitous through throughout ah the broadcast of a game and at the game itself. It's happened that quickly. I think we can make some changes just as quickly and I think most Australians would thank us for it. Ah what I would say is that ah, the longer we leave it the more ingrained it becomes, the more it becomes a part of the economics of the sport itself, and it'll be a lot harder to unravel.
MARIAN WILKINSON: As football final season approaches, without political intervention, advertising by the big bookmakers aimed at punters is expected to ramp up.
FOOTBALL FAN: Yeah I put 25 bucks on Pendlebury to kick the first goal.
MARIAN WILKINSON: For those who enjoy gambling it will mean better prices and more excitement. But for many fans it will mean explaining to their kids the game they love is worth a lot more than a punt.
DAVID SCHWARZ: You know, I don't want my children growing up only knowing odds. I want my children growing up knowing that the young superstar players that are out there at the moment are more important than trying to win five bucks of a bloke who kicks the first goal.
KERRY O'BRIEN: The Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on gambling reform will be delivering its report next month, smack in the middle of an election build up and the likelihood of a new government. Not necessarily a climate conducive to good sense or good policy making. On the Steward's Inquiry into the More Joyous affair, Gai Waterhouse has pleaded 'not guilty' to two charges relating to informing Stewards of the health and treatment of the mare. The trainer will reappear before the Inquiry next Monday.
On Four Corners next week we enter a mysterious new world of espionage and reveal a secret threat to Australia's security. Until then, good night.
END
Background Information
STORY UPDATES
Commercial TV to ban promotion of gambling during sports broadcasts ABC News 21 May 2013 - Australia's peak commercial television group has opposed South Australia's move to ban promotion of gambling during televised sport, but says it will have a new national code enforcing a ban in place by August.
REPORTS AND INQUIRIES
Independent Gambling Authority Codes of Practice Reviews - Inquiry Report IGA 2013 - This Gambling Inquiry report was released on 23 June 2010. [PDF 900Kb]
Inquiry into the advertising and promotion of gambling services in sport Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform Ongoing - Read more about the Inquiry and how to upload a submission.
Submissions to the Inquiry into the advertising and promotion of gambling services in sport - Read the submissions received to date, including those by Tom Waterhouse, the Australian Wagering Council, the Australian Crime Commission, Sportsbet and Tabcorp.
Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport Australian Crime Commission Feb 2013 - New Generation Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs and Organised Criminal Involvement in their use in Professional Sport. [PDF 926Kb]
National Gambling Reform Bill 2012 and other related bills Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform 23 Nov 2012 - Read the report and its recommendations.
Inquiry into the prevention and treatment of problem gambling Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform 12 Oct 2012 - Inquiry into problem gambling.
Interactive and online gambling and gambling advertising - Interactive Gambling and Broadcasting Amendment (Online Transactions and Other Measures) Bill 2011 8 Dec 2011 - Inquiry into interactive gambling.
Organised Crime in Australia 2011 Report Australian Crime Commission 2011 - The latest edition provides the most comprehensive unclassified profile of organised crime in Australia, including the characteristics of those involved, what drives them, the activities they are involved in and the extent and impact of organised crime.
NEWS COVERAGE
SA moves to ban live-odds betting ABC News 20 May 2013 - The South Australian Government says it will ban the advertising of live-odds betting on television and during sporting matches.
WATCH: Social media, smart phones creating new generation of gamblers ABC News 20 May 2013 - Professor Jeffrey Derevensky from Canada's McGill University discusses new research which claims social media and smart phones are creating a new generation of gamblers.
Study finds explosion in sports betting despite decline in number of gamblers ABC News 20 May 2013 - New research has found a decline in the number of Australians who are gambling, but an explosion in sports betting.
NRL abandons $50m sponsorship deal with Tom Waterhouse ABC News 20 May 2013 - Negotiations for bookmaker Tom Waterhouse to become an official sponsor of the National Rugby League (NRL) have broken down, with both parties walking away from the proposed deal. By Marian Wilkinson for Four Corners.
MEDIA RELEASE: Fewer Australians gambling overall but interactive gambling on the rise Southern Cross University 20 May 2013 - While fewer Australians are gambling, those participating in sports betting have doubled according to new data released by Southern Cross University. Read more.
Missing details: the sanitisation of Tom Waterhouse's Wikipedia page SMH 14 May 2013 - Mr Waterhouse's employees have been sanitising the bookmaker's Wikipedia page, removing references to parliamentary inquiries into the march of sports betting into lounge rooms and even his turn on the Dancing With the Stars program.
WATCH: Singleton and Waterhouse charged Lateline 13 May 2013 - Racehorse owner, John Singleton, has been fined fifteen thousand dollars after admitting to bringing horse racing into disrepute. Trainer, Gai Waterhouse, has been charged with two counts of failing to report the horse's condition to stewards.
It's time to set the record straight SMH 12 May 2013 - More Joyous cannot speak for herself, so this is my version of the recent well-documented events about my mare. Regrets? There are a few. Some general observations about the inquiry? Yep. And I also have some questions I'd like to raise and more than a few points I'd like to make. An op-ed by John Singleton
Seen enough of Tom Waterhouse? Odds are you have SMH 10 May 2013 - There's a good betting chance that sometime in the not distant past, whether on a billboard, tram, bus or screen, you would have seen Tom Waterhouse's face. This week, with the aid of resident songbird Denis Carnahan, we review Waterhouse's celebrity status.
Abbott would legislate to cut gambling ads The Australian 5 May 2013 - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has put the television industry 'on notice' to clamp down on broadcasting live betting odds during sports coverage or face a legislated ban.
Proposal to ban commentators promoting live odds ABC News 22 Apr 2013 - A proposed ban on live odds during sport matches would stop commentators promoting odds but falls short of a total ban.
Abc Gambling Documentary Youtube
Trying to shackle the great persuader SMH 30 Mar 2013 - Sports fans are not happy to be force-fed gambling promotions and the backlash has only just begun.
Tom Waterhouse on the outer for NRL games The Australian 28 Mar 2013 - Bookmaker Tom Waterhouse will have a reduced role during live football matches for the remainder of the season after NRL executives admitted he had blurred the lines between commentary and advertising.
WATCH: Are football codes gambling with their future? 7.30 5 Mar 2013 - Concerns are being raised over the influence of gambling on Australia's football codes and whether that could open the door to criminal gangs and match fixing.
MEDIA RELEASE: Greens Bill to ban broadcast of betting odds during sport The Greens 13 Feb 2013 - Australian Greens spokesperson for sport and gambling, Senator Richard Di Natale, today announced a Greens bill to restrict the promotion of betting odds in sport.
WATCH: Australian sport faces its 'blackest day' 7.30 7 Feb 2013 - The Australian Crime Commission's investigations have unearthed evidence of drug use and match-fixing in Australian sport, and the role of organised crime in that.
SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY
Gambling Help Online 1800 858 858 - Free 24/7 support via chat or email. It's free, easy and convenient and available to anyone affected by a gambling concern. www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/
Lifeline Australia 13 11 14 - Counselling services 24/7, including for those seeking help with gambling problems. www.lifeline.org.au/
Problem Gambling - Australians spend nearly $12 billion a year on poker machines and three quarters of people who have a serious problem with gambling are pokie players. An Australian Government initiative. www.problemgambling.gov.au/
Relationships Australia: Problem Gambling 1300 364 277 - Counselling services and support to problem gamblers and their families. www.relationships.org.au/.../problem-gambling
The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation is an independent statutory authority that aims to reduce the prevalence and harms of problem gambling. www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/
OTHER LINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
The Australian Wagering Council is the peak industry body representing the interests of the wagering and sportsbetting. australianwageringcouncil.com/
The Independent Gambling Authority - South Australian regulator for commercial forms of gambling. www.iga.sa.gov.au/
MoreJoyous on Twitter @MoreJoyous - John Singleton's horse has her own Twitter account. twitter.com/MoreJoyous
Petition The Australian Senate: Ban sports betting information from broadcast during live sporting events Change.org - Petition to Canberra to place a ban on sports betting sponsorship during live events.
Racing NSW - www.racingnsw.com.au/
Victoria Commission of Gambling and Liquor Regulation - www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/
WATCH RELATED FOUR CORNERS
Horses for Courses 10 Nov 1986 - Tony Jones investigates the connections between racing, politics and police. The Waterhouse family lawyers consequently brought criminal defamation charges against Tony Jones and the program's executive producer, Peter Manning. Watch online.
Who's Cheating Whom? 22 Apr 2013 - Australians like to think their sports stars play fair but now it's alleged there's widespread drug taking and links with organised crime.