and you thought 6 seconds delay on AtTheRaces was bad....

An appalling situation in Australia showing a clear abuse of power by a major TV network. The Bathurst 1000 is a hugely popular motor racing event which has been broadcast live around the nation since it began in the 1960s. As a kid I used to park myself in front of the TV at 7.30am when the coverage started and not move until 5pm after the chequered flag had been waved. Only several beers on Saturday night stopped me from watching the live coverage in the UK in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The host broadcaster decided that making money from advertisers was more important than showing the race live, so what began as a live event, ended up nearly 30 minutes behind by the end of the race.

Channel Seven broadcasts finish of Bathurst 1000 30 minutes after race actually ended

THE Bathurst 1000 became the race that delayed a nation after Channel 7 put the advertising dollar before its audience.

Channel 7's "live" coverage of the Bathurst 1000 was so significantly delayed that despite the race finishing at 4.53pm, they were still "racing" on television until 5.20pm.

Angry motor racing fans bombarded social media sites to blast Seven's coverage.

The network's coverage of Bathurst started out live, but the broadcaster paused and restarted the action to suit its ad breaks.

Normally advertising is slotted in during lulls of the action to prevent delays, but this year Seven struggled to find space.

While Seven blamed the lack of safety cars, fans on Twitter pointed the finger back at the network for over-committing itself with advertisers.


A motor race lasting over six hours, and yet they couldn't find room to put the ads in?? Morons.



"The closeness of the race, the reduced number of safety cars in today's race, advertising commitments and our desire that viewers not miss a single moment of the race led us to time-shift our coverage," the spokesman told The Daily Telegraph.


Pretty naive to schedule ad breaks during safety cars when you have incidents like this spectacular crash which lead to replay after replay, followed by deep analysis about how it happened and how the driver managed to survive!

Currently, Australian residents are banned from betting online during sporting events, something which is standard fare around the rest of the world, and now accounts for more than 50% of sports bets with most online bookmakers. Imagine the outrage in the UK if a network tried to get away with this. It's bad enough in Australia when different states have different broadcast schedules (but still say 'live') or when Friday night football is broadcast an hour late just so the network can squeeze in plenty of ads, but when they start events as live and then dupe viewers into thinking it will remain that way while they squeeze as much as they can from their sponsors, that's outrageous.

I'm led to believe few sporting events broadcast on free-to-air networks in Australia are exempt from this, but Channel 7 is the prime offender. Corporate greed with no respect for their end customers, that's all it comes down to.

If you are ever going to bet on live sport, look for as many sources of 'live' information as you can - TV, radio (always the fastest broadcast medium), internet streams, Twitter and anything else you have access to for comparison. And don't forget watching the odds change - if they don't match your opinion of the event, then be suspicious. Remember it's your money, other people will be more than willing to take it off you and you never have to bet.Posted byScott Fergusonat20:55

collusion in online poker - who'd have thought of that??

It's amazing that some people are naive enough to bet or play poker without thinking somebody else has more information than them. For sports betting, it's a fact of life - unless you should actually be banned from betting because of access to insider info, then there will always be somebody who knows more than you, usually because they have done more homework, or have access to wider sources of news.

In poker, you are betting against blank faces online. Who knows what they are up to? And, as proven in every form of life where prizes are involved, there will be crooked people out there trying to get ahead by cheating. It's easy enough to track IP addresses, money trails etc, but it will be nigh on impossible to catch players colluding over instant messenger, if they aren't stupid enough to do it again and again.

BBC 5 Live radio are on the case...

Can the world of online poker chase out the cheats?

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The problem for the authorities and the gaming companies is that it is virtually impossible to prevent collusion like this, because players can share information about their hands via the phone or internet messenger without being detected.

Cheating is usually only discovered by the poker companies retrospectively when security experts establish regular patterns of behaviour involving the same players, although software is also used to flag up suspicious plays.

While most online poker games are safe, the scope for fraud is considerable, and the rapid growth of the online poker industry has left some companies struggling to keep on top of security issues.


The moral of the story - always keep your eyes and ears open, and if you suspect something is wrong, vote with your feet - go elsewhere for your gambling pleasure. (And complain if you believe you have a valid case).Posted byScott Fergusonat08:53

if you thought the Betfair Front Room campaign was annoying....

then be prepared for a new onslaught of Betfair advertising....

Betfair set to launch new ads

According to online wagering firm Betfair's marketing team the latest advertising campaign is the largest the company has ever launched. Due to hit the airwaves in late August the advertising spots will run across the United Kingdom and Europe with the intent being to increase the customer base of three million that Betfair claims. A social media online advance will also be part of the globally comprehensive advert package. Created by Albion the campaign is directed at consumers who are encouraged to 'cut out the middle man'.

Jason Goodman, Albion London's chief executive officer, commented, "The betting industry is extremely competitive but Betfair's peer-to-peer exchange model makes the brand unique. It's this factor that Albion wanted to bring to life. Goodman went on to say, "In encouraging punters to 'cut out the middleman', this campaign uses the vernacular of modern, intermediating businesses that have thrived in the digital age by allowing their customers to go 'direct'.

Has the peer-to-peer message runs its course? The likes of BetFred and Paddy Power thrive by offering bonuses and specials that betting exchanges can't match because of the margins involved. Boylesports and Paddy Power both refunded bets on Dustin Johnson last weekend in the US PGA after the conversial ruling which cost him a spot in the playoff, exchanges can't do it as the layers certainly aren't going to refund it for them. That's the biggest challenge for the likes of Betfair as they fight with every other firm for the elusive recreational punters.

The television spots dramatise how a middleman or traditional bookmaker just is in the way which doesn't add anything to the wagering experience but annoyance. Scheduled for airing during sporting programmes and on channels such as Sky Sports, ESPN, Champions League football on ITV the Channel 4 Racing, and the Ryder Cup.Posted byScott Fergusonat20:36