Bookies pay heavy price as gamblers take €2m in sting
Cashmans bookmakers in Cork paid out some €130,000 to punters while the Paddy Power chain paid out an estimated €100,000 in the coup.
John Keegan of Cashmans in Cork said there had been a run of bets on the horse, including one bet of €3,000 at 5-1, two of €2,000 at 6-1, and two of €1,500 at 5-1. The betting coup also caught bookmakers in Britain and at the online betting site, Betfair, as well as other independent bookmakers in Ireland and at the track.
It is understood that the brains behind the coup hail from the North Kerry area and much of the gambling action took place at bookmakers in the Munster area.
Details of the ‘sting’ only came to light last night as thousands of punters converged on the annual Galway racing festival.
In a well-planned operation, scores of people placed bets in betting shops around the country on a horse called Bocaccio, trained by Michael Grassick and ridden by Neil McCullagh, which went on to win at Leopardstown on July 14.
Only a handful of people knew which horse was to be backed and those who put money on the winner only got the name of the horse minutes before the race.
Each member of the gambling hit squad was instructed to place bets of €500 on behalf of the group, when the first show of betting appeared on TV screens in betting shops. The odds on the horse opened at 7/1 and after each bet was placed members of the group were then allowed to have a bet with their own money.
The horse duly obliged and romped home an easy winner at Leopardstown at a starting price of 9/4, although the people behind the coup got the horse at a much higher price.
“Between what was taken out of the betting shops and what was laid on the horse at the track, bookmakers were easily stung for at least €2m,” said a racing source.
