Turf Club to target insider trading on betting exchanges
Those being targeted by the new strategy include jockeys, qualified riders, valets, trainers, jockeys’ agents and stable employees and it is also intended that rules will be implemented to give racing authorities unprecedented powers to gather information from people’s telephone bills and other sources of potentially incriminating evidence.
Senior Steward Pierce Molony said that the new strategy was being implemented after a six-month investigation by the Turf Club which targeted betting exchange activity. “The programme covered the amounts being matched on the betting exchanges before and after Irish racing went live on Attheraces,” Mr Molony said, adding: “to nobody’s surprise the amounts matched have risen considerably. With this in mind, the Stewards have approved a strategy which we are now in the process of implementing.”
He also revealed that the Turf Club had asked the Compliance and Regulations Committee to look at the adequacy of penalties for dealing with offenders, including warnings off.
The Senior Steward said that there had been a deal of criticism of the Turf Club since some of these proposals had been first mooted, but he pointed out they would be negligent in their role as the body responsible for the integrity of racing if they did not take on board all information available, regardless of where it came from.
He said the Turf Club had never been involved in any aspect of betting other than when market trends indicated a horse may not have been allowed run on its merits.
Similarly it had no problem with betting exchanges, but problems arose if someone with inside information, which was not available generally, used this to profit from a horse losing.
Mr Molony said the exchanges and the betting industry had been involved in preliminary discussions with the Turf Club about how they could help track wrongdoers and he hoped these would lead to fruitful co-operation between all parties involved, so people betting either with bookies or the exchanges are betting on a level playing pitch.
“There are strict controls in place in the UK and our view is that if we don’t implement similar controls, Irish racing will face the threat of unwelcome layers as they move from a jurisdiction where there are strict controls where to one where there are none,” he added.
Stressing that there was no evidence to suggest Ireland has anything like the problems which have surfaced in the UK, he said: “We should not become complacent in any way and we must be aware of the potential threat at all times.”
With regard to the development of the Curragh, the Senior Steward said that a great deal of progress had been made with their plans and it was hoped these would be finalised with a view to seeking planning permission in the first half of 2005.
A specially appointed Curragh Development Board had been pursuing a variety of issues since the Aga Khan purchased the Stand House Hotel as a gift to the Turf Club in order to allow the redevelopment of the racecourse facilities.
Key developments, which had taken place, included reaching agreement with the Dept. of Defence that the current road running behind the main stand could be moved further back to allow proposed work take place. The Turf Club had also taken possession of the Stand House Hotel in August, although it would continue to be run by them as a going concern.
“We are delighted with the progress to date and with the co-operation we have had from all the authorities. Obviously it has been a great help that the development will take place on Turf Club lands and not on the Curragh itself. Nevertheless we do need a great deal of help and encouragement and we have been getting that,” Mr Molony said.
