21/05/13
On 6/12/12 in an article entitled “Tattsbet Grossly False and Misleading Advertising Continues Unabated” which can be read HERE – I noted that the Tattsbet banner advertising on various websites, including Racing Queensland, as well as wording in newspaper advertisements, etcetera, is nothing more than what I called at the time “grossly false and deceptive advertising”.
One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out that if their advertisement reads that you will get “the best fixed prices more often” with Tattsbet – then to comply with advertising laws in this country, that wording needs to be based on factual evidence. Those words surely represent a big statement, as they infer that it would be factual that Tattsbet will generally be offering a better fixed win and place price than any of their opposition TABs, or corporate bookmakers.
I thought I’d give Tattsbet and all their cohorts six months to right their past wrongs, but yet again today, I can exclusively advise the punters of Australia that Tattsbet’s false advertising continues unabated and that is nothing short of an absolute and utter disgrace.
Personally I find it pathetic that the current LNP State Government, the Chairman of Racing Queensland (not the entire Board as they only got named a few weeks ago) and Queensland’s sole daily newspaper Monday to Saturday inclusive, The Courier Mail, all seem to think it’s okay to be able to suddenly find two or three million dollars to launch a sort of retrospective running and handling enquiry into aspects of the former Bob Bentley run Racing Queensland regime, yet each of those three entities happily look the other way at the advertising deception that emanates right under their nose from their good friends at Tattsbet.
At 8pm last Friday night – given it was six months since my last story on the topic was penned, I thought it was about time I audited Tattsbet’s fixed odds win and place prices again to see if they do in fact offer “the best fixed prices more often” given that not one advertising banner has been removed, or had the wording changed since my original story. And bear in mind in the audit results that are outlined below, I only had to compare Tattsbet fixed odds win and place prices on the last three races from Doomben the next day with two other outlets – Betstar and Centrebet (called C/Bet below) – to find Tattsbet advertising is still on the nose. In other words, I didn’t even need to look at numerous other TAB and corporate outlets that had markets up and operational at the same time, or I’ve no doubt the results below would have even been much worse.
I fancied the last three races being run at Doomben the next day would provide a good litmus test to Tattsbet’s claims of offering “the best fixed prices more often” as those three races were the Group features of the Group 3 Fred Best Classic (Race 6), the Group 1 Doomben Cup (Race 7) and the Group 3 BRC Sprint (Race 8). All three races thus had horses engaged in them that were well known to the punting public as well as having good prizemoney – as high as $500,000 in the case of the Doomben Cup.
Here are the markets of Tattsbet, Betstar and Centrebet (C/bet) on the three relevant aforesaid races:
The Doomben Race 6 (Fred Best Classic) win and place fixed odds at 8pm on Friday 17/5/13 read:
Tattsbet win
Tattsbet place
Betstar win
Betstar place
C/bet
win
C/bet
place
Sizzling
3.40
1.60
3.60
1.70
3.60
1.59
Saluter
21.00
6.00
17.00
5.50
18.00
5.50
Luke’s Luck
101.00
26.00
81.00
18.00
81.00
19.00
Academus
3.60
1.65
3.60
1.70
3.70
1.62
Jimando
26.00
7.25
34.00
11.00
26.00
7.60
Dances on Stars
15.00
4.50
17.00
6.50
17.00
5.30
Eximus
51.00
14.00
41.00
11.00
41.00
11.30
Complicate
12.00
3.75
13.00
4.80
14.00
4.40
Platinum Kingdom
14.00
4.30
17.00
6.00
14.00
4.75
Platinum State
61.00
16.00
101.00
18.00
81.00
19.00
Boban
8.00
2.75
8.00
3.20
8.00
2.80
Lucky Hussler
19.00
5.50
21.00
7.50
19.00
5.80
Al Aneed
8.00
2.75
8.00
3.20
7.50
2.65
Medusa’s Miss
26.00
7.25
26.00
8.00
26.00
7.60
Lilliburlero
41.00
11.00
41.00
11.00
41.00
11.30
Oasis Rose
31.00
4.00
15.00
5.50
15.00
4.70
General Groove
41.00
11.00
51.00
13.00
41.00
11.30
Peron
15.00
4.50
13.00
4.80
13.00
4.20
Cheapskater
101.00
26.00
101.00
18.00
101.00
21.50
The Doomben Race 7 (Doomben Cup) win and place fixed odds at 8pm Friday 17/5/13 read:
Tattsbet win
Tattsbet place
Betstar win
Betstar place
C/bet
win
C/bet
place
Manighar
9.00
2.90
8.50
2.60
9.50
2.95
Danleigh
26.00
7.00
26.00
6.50
26.00
6.60
Ginga Dude
51.00
13.00
61.00
14.00
51.00
11.10
Foreteller
4.00
1.71
4.00
1.65
3.90
1.62
Lamasery
8.00
2.65
8.50
2.80
9.00
2.85
Zabeelionaire
21.00
5.75
41.00
9.50
31.00
7.60
Lightinthenite
21.00
5.75
31.00
6.50
26.00
6.60
Beaten Up
10.00
3.15
8.50
2.50
9.00
2.85
Lights of Heaven
3.80
1.66
3.80
1.55
3.90
1.62
Secret Admirer
16.00
4.60
17.00
4.80
15.00
4.20
Fibrillation
41.00
10.51
61.00
14.00
51.00
11.10
Zurella
41.00
10.50
34.00
8.50
35.00
8.30
Pimms Time
26.00
7.00
41.00
9.50
31.00
7.60
Hippopus
10.00
3.15
11.00
3.20
9.00
2.85
Doomben Race 8 (BRC Sprint) win and place fixed odds at 8pm Friday 17/5/13 read:
Tattsbet win
Tattsbet place
Betstar win
Betstar place
C/bet
win
C/bet
place
Hot Snitzel
10.00
3.25
11.00
3.90
10.00
3.40
Famous Seamus
6.00
2.25
6.00
2.35
6.00
2.25
Ready To Rip
6.00
2.25
6.50
2.50
6.50
2.40
River Lad
13.00
4.00
15.00
5.50
13.00
4.20
Phelan Ready
15.00
4.50
15.00
5.00
15.00
4.70
See The World
7.50
2.65
8.00
3.00
7.50
2.70
Startsmeup
26.00
7.25
26.00
8.00
26.00
7.50
Green Birdie
126.00
33.00
101.00
19.00
101.00
20.50
Belltone
9.00
3.00
11.00
3.90
9.00
3.10
Steel Zip
21.00
6.00
26.00
8.00
26.00
7.50
Justanexcuse
41.00
11.00
34.00
9.50
31.00
8.70
Listen Son
26.00
7.25
26.00
7.50
21.00
6.20
Morning Captain
26.00
7.25
26.00
7.00
26.00
7.50
Fire Up Fifi
7.00
2.50
7.50
2.90
7.00
2.55
Mahisara
6.50
2.40
6.50
2.50
7.50
2.70
Latin News
101.00
26.00
101.00
19.00
101.00
20.50
King Saul
151.00
41.00
151.00
20.00
101.00
20.50
War Ends
51.00
14.00
41.00
10.00
41.00
10.90
Meet George
101.00
26.00
81.00
19.00
81.00
18.00
So across those three feature races I was able to analyse the win and place fixed prices of 52 horses (19 in Race 6, 14 in Race 7 and 19 in Race 8) meaning all up I have 104 prices to compare between the three betting outlets (52 horses have multiplied by two prices on each).
I have highlighted above the only prices that Tattsbet were in fact “better” than just two of their many competitors in fixed odds markets.
Of those 104 prices, Tattsbet are only the “best fixed prices” in 25 cases – or an abysmal 24.03% of the time. Therefore whilst they advertise they bet “the best fixed prices more often” Tattsbet should really advertise that they are “the worst fixed prices more often”, as in 75.97% of these three aforesaid Group races, they were in fact either betting 1) the exact same price, or 2) a worse price than two of their opposition.
When will the current Chairman of Racing Queensland, Kevin Dixon, show some leadership on the topic and order Tattsbet’s “false and deceptive” banner/s removed from the website of the governing body of racing in this State? When will the Board of Tattsbet order the removal of what they would surely have to know are clearly “false and deceptive” banner ads that are out there in the marketplace? Seeing The Courier Mail are publicly patting themselves on the back for getting the current cash strapped State Government to waste a few million bucks to look into aspects of the former Bentley regime, maybe they can get one of their investigative journalists to work at night some time and do a comparison on fixed odds thoroughbred prices just like I did. How much longer can all these individuals and entities simply look the other way and allow this deceptive advertising to continue unabated? I can understand why each one would probably prefer to look the other way. For instance, for his part the Chairman of Racing Queensland would obviously want punters to use Tattsbet when betting, as there is a benefit to the three codes of the racing industry in Queensland from that happening. I have no problem with that notion either, but any advertising to attempt to lure that betting dollar must by law be truthful in its wording. As part of their role of being on the Board of Tattsbet, I would have reasonably thought that those board members should be looking at newspapers and racing websites to seek out innovative measures that they can take to a Board meeting to hopefully get adopted which could improve turnover. In the pursuit of doing that, they should then see this article, or notice false advertising that is being used by the company they oversee. In the case of The Courier Mail they would earn a motza each calendar year from Tattsbet paying them to put Form Guides in their newspaper as well as from Tattsbet using big advertisements to notify the public of such events as jackpots on exotic forms of betting, etcetera – so The Courier Mail is hardly going to have a front page “exclusive” on the topic, which would be deemed to be detrimental to their current warm and fuzzy and financially rewarding relationship.
All of them obviously need to be reminded that “For evil to succeed good men must do nothing”. I find it amazing how many people in high places can all cumulatively look the other way when it’s convenient to do so, rather than to tackle the issue head-on and fix the problem forthwith. Sadly the often sordid history of mankind is filled with exactly the same scenario.
I have printed copies of each of the three entities fixed price markets on the reviewed races above if any of Tattsbet, Betstar or Centrebet care to challenge the stated prices above.
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s another of the popular What’s In A Name series. On www.sydneyracing.com.au Bernard Kenny takes a terrific in-depth look at the upcoming French Derby. Check out the gorgeous backdrop of Chantilly racecourse in France in that article. Then on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls has penned a great article regarding the retirement of internationally acclaimed Paul Messara mare – Ortensia.