Explosion of sports betting in US represents a rising threat, with PGA Tour needing to fiercely protect integrity of competitionJay Monahan speaks so sparingly that the PGA Tour commissioner had plenty of time to plot and plan precisely what his message would be during traditional end-of-season media duties in Atlanta last Tuesday. When pressed on even light detail of how a framework agreement between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Group may take on more formal status, Monahan was completely noncommittal. The 53-year-old may soon realise, if he has not already, that Saudis bearing billions do so with more than a passing interest in how their buck is being deployed. He who pays the...
Affordability checks will hit revenues but there is a world of difference between online slot machines and sports bettingA couple of hours after the government’s White Paper on gambling reform was finally published last week, Julie Harrington, the British Horseracing Authority’s chief executive, was asked whether the proposed legislation took into account the fundamental difference between betting – on racing and other sports – and gaming, on fixed-margin casino products.“There is some good language in there, accepting that there is a difference between sport and evidence of faster losses on those casino-based games,” Harrington said. “I think on a more detailed reading, you’ll see that it may not be the headlines, but the language below really does differentiate that, so...
Betting on sport has always been popular, even when illegal, but after the last disastrous Gambling Act it is time to treat the issue in a more mature waySuper Bowl XXIX in January 1995 between the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers looked like a lopsided mismatch beforehand and the reality was even worse. From the moment the 49ers scored what was, at the time, the fastest opening touchdown in Super Bowl history, it felt like the longest WWF bout in history, only without the round where they pretend the bad guy is winning.The only thing that took anyone by surprise was the TV ratings. It was not the headline figure of 83.4m viewers which was impressive because...
The FA has questions to answer but so too do governments past and present over the rapid rise of football betting since deregulation in 2005It was, on the face of it, classic haplessness of the Football Association to have used the FA Cup third round as a stage for its “take a minute” campaign for mental health, while a clutch of matches were streamed live exclusively on betting sites, a looming risk to financial and mental health. Packaged up by the marketing giant IMG, which bought the TV and media rights to football’s grand old competition from the FA, the deals offer yet another pathway for supporters to inextricably associate the game itself with betting,Charles Ritchie, whose son Jack killed...
With a payout in excess of the jockey’s Magnificent Seven on the cards at the Royal meeting, the big firms did no one a favour by refusing multiplesThere were some memorable and historic achievements at Royal Ascot last week, including Hayley Turner’s win on Thanks Be in the Sandringham, the first at the meeting for a female jockey since 1987, and Blue Point’s Group One double in the week’s big sprints.But everything else pales into insignificance when set against Frankie Dettori’s remarkable afternoon on Thursday, when he won the first four races including the Gold Cup and left the bookies staring at a potential payout for a Dettori six-timer which would have far exceeded the £30m for his “Magnificent Seven”...