Bookie bitten for $50K in bet gone wrong
By Brent Zerafa and Robert Craddock
From: The Daily Telegraph August 28, 2009 12:00AM
IT IS certain to go down as one of the worst punting blunders of all-time. A mistake which has cost a bookmaker thousands at the expense of punters across the nation.
The racing industry was abuzz yesterday as to why a punter would place $50,000 on the unspectacular greyhound Sweet Keeping at Ballarat on Wednesday night when a win would have only returned his money with no profit.
But The Daily Telegraph can reveal it was a mistake by a corporate bookie who last night denied the incident actually occurred.
A bet of $100 had been placed on Sweet Keeping and instead of holding it, a staff member of the bookmaking firm decided to bet it back through the tote.
He initially punched in $50 before deciding to have the full $100 on the dog, which at the time was paying $9.80 seconds before jump time.
But to his horror he punched in $50,100 and there was no time to cancel the bet as the lids flew open.
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The UniTAB pool jumped from $2216 to $53,216, more than 10 times the average amount on the night, and crunched Sweet Keeping to the shortest possible quote of $1.
The large bet inflated every other runner in the race and rocketed the eventual winner, and early favourite, Rocks Back's price from $2 to $44 - delivering an early Christmas gift to punters who backed him at what they believed was a short price.
The corresponding dog paid $2.30 for the win in NSW, with a pool of only $3597, and $2.80 in the home tote of Victoria, where the pool reached $6476.40.
Sweet Keeping finished second, beaten 1 lengths, and started $3.80 in NSW and $6 in Victoria.
The corporate betting firm tried to suggest it was a regular account-holder trying to force the price out to skin the bookies, who were offering best tote odds on the race.
But sources have denied these claims and confirmed it was human error. Sweet Keeping's owner Shane Stiff watched the race while playing poker at a pub in Richmond in Sydney's west and was amazed when he saw the dividends flash across the screen at the end of the race.
"There was definitely no sting, well not that I was a part of anyway,'' Stiff said.
"I had $300 on my dog with one of those corporate bookies, that was it.''
Trainer Wayne Vassallo was also taken by surprise.
"That has to be a mistake, I reckon - someone has probably wanted to have $50 or $500 on it,'' he said.
UNiTAB's Brad Tamer said the bet was made by an account-holder and customary checks were made at the time to ensure it was legitimate and intentional.
