[extropy-chat] Gambling win as Betfair gets past the post

[Brett Paatsch]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17357050%255E2702,00.html

"AUSTRALIAN punters will be able to legally bet against each other online
within weeks, after Tasmania's upper house yesterday approved a licensing
regime for betting exchanges.

Independents in the state's Legislative Council passed the Lennon Labor
Government's legislation paving the way for the British-based Betfair to
get a licence to operate in Australia. "

----

Most of the opposition to this seemed to focus on the idea that it was 
inherently
more dangerous and risky to allow punters to bet that a particular horse 
would
loose rather than that some other horse would beat it.

There was a lot of politiking inevitably going on as vested racing interests
sought to protect their revenue streams.

I'm not entirely sure though that there isn't a slight case to be made that 
it
would be easier to sabotage the performance of a particular horse making
it lose.

I'm thinking about doping and the difficulties of screening drugs etc in
modern athletes. If the stakes are high enough perhaps it wouldn't be too
hard to impair the performance of a particular racing animal.


Brett Paatsch