by Anton Johan
An employee of Coventry Greyhound Stadium has been fined £5,000 and
"severely reprimanded" after he failed to run the course according to specific
rules.
Track rules require that if races are run before their previously advertised
time, this information needs to be reported. However, 50 year old Russ Watkin
failed to do so, allowing important race results to be used in an illicit
manner.
In November 2009, several races were run in advance of their advertised
times. An employee in the off-course betting industry used this knowledge to
place bets with other betting companies, earning himself good money in the
process.
When the suspicious betting was reported, the UK Gambling Commission and the
Greyhound Board of Great Britain launched an investigation and discovered the
problem.
As such, a 24 year old man from Sheffield was caught, and cautioned by the
groups involved in the investigation.
No evidence of a link between the track's operators and the man who placed
the bets was found.
It is thought that the man simply used his knowledge of the races and the way
the betting industry works to exploit the information.
After the investigation uncovered the reason why the punter was able to make
money illicit bets, Watkin was found to be in breach of a number of rules,
including failure in reporting of races that are run beforehand.
The Head of Enforcement and Regional Compliance of the Gambling Commission,
Mike Williams said: "We consider every report of suspicious betting activity we
receive as part of our role in keeping gambling fair and safe for all. This
joint investigation with the team at the Greyhound Board is a good example of
effective joint working protecting the integrity of sports betting."
