1 December 2008

60 Minutes Investigates Poker Scam

60 Minutes Did An Investigation Of On Line Poker. Here it is in two parts:


Transcript for the video can be found here.

I still have to laugh that the Kahnawake Reservation isn't in Canada. Kind of like the Vatican isn't in Italy.

Internet poker is an $18 billion per year business. Interesting is how it took off after some dude made $2.3 million on TV. Horse racing doesn't have that going for it. You have to spend too much time to be good, and to be good means that you will probably still lose money in the long run thanks to the enormous track takeout in racing.

The jurisdictional issues are the only arguments racing can put up as to why a gambler should bet horses online instead of sports or poker offshore. If a player gets ripped off, there is nothing he or she can do to ensure that they will get their money back because you can't get the law involved. However, in the case on 60 minutes, the players who were cheated did get back the 20 million they lost.

Bottom line, online poker should be legal and regulated in Canada and the USA. The idiotic governments are missing out in huge potential tax revenues. Players are losing money offshore, when they can easily lose onshore.

And the unconstitutional ban on poker in the USA hasn't helped the racing industry at all, as bettors are still able to bet offshore if they want, and even if some aren't, they are still staying away from the overpriced form of gambling horse racing is offering right now.

As for cheating. Drugs in horse racing put the odd poker cheating story to shame. And you still have to wonder about fixed races as well. Just look how slow the second and third at Woodbine went yesterday. They were both at least 2 seconds slower than they should have been in light of the times for the rest of the card.

Jen Morrison raises some questions regarding the third race and the jockeys standings in her post today. I don't know, maybe Simon Husbands thought he was being filmed by PETA.
UPDATE, here is the race on YOUTUBE:


Too bad we don't have exchange betting in Canada right now. There would be a lot of action on the top jockey at Woodbine as Jim McAleney and Patrick Husbands are tied with five days to go.


Harness Racing Is On Life Support In Alberta


Horse Owner McNulty Fugitive Case Is Getting Stranger As Investigations Begin


7/8th Dashes To Begin At Woodbine Harness Tonight. The 7/8th distance is a good idea because it may cause the horses who use the best drugs to get in more trouble than in a mile race. This should even out the playing field a bit, but not enough to stop the disparity between the outfits that spend thousands in vet bills a month (and win most of the races) versus the outfits that don't.


CHECK OUT FREE PAST PERFORMANCES AT THOROUGHBRED BLOGGER'S ALLIANCE
I've mentioned before that there are a few stables that pay for a service that allows the public to see the past performances of races in which they participate.
Thoroughbred Blogger's Alliance has put together a search system which allows one to check out free past performances for these outfits by track. CHECK IT OUT.

Also available at the TBA homepage are Stake Past Performances. Go to the lower right hand corner of the page.

22 comments:

Patrick J Patten said...

Thanks for the links. I watched 60 minutes last night, the best part, the biggest cheat is a former champ.

Anonymous said...

As for the 3rd race at Woodbine, disgusting.

I hope the stewards fine Simon.

Just terrible.

Anonymous said...

You think woodbine is the only place fixing races lol Doe's any one trust the Hasbeen brother's anyway?

Anonymous said...

wow! this is pathetic!!!! very similar to david clark letting cory clark win her first race at woodbine!! but sad to say nothing will be done about this.....this is out and out race fixing, and should be dealt with, but again like i said it wont.

Anonymous said...

the commision should give both husbands a 10 year band the very next day.

Anonymous said...

this is a prime example of brotherly love!

Anonymous said...

agree 1000%

Anonymous said...

they should call Woodbine,The World of Farce Racing.not horse racing....

Anonymous said...

this paints a horrible picture on this sport.

Anonymous said...

I sent a complaint to the ORC. I'd ask everybody here to do the same.

Anonymous said...

It is my understanding that there is a hearing this morning.
Hopefully a news agency will pick it up because WEG and the ORC don't publicize fines and suspensions on the internet.
That is another reason why bettors should be suspicious about the game.
The regulators and operators like to try to keep the dirty parts away from public consumption as much as possible.

Anonymous said...

J Le Blanc jr defended Simon Hasbeen's action on J morrison's blog ,hmm,firstly praise Simon for his great riding ability, wonder why he rides 170 races a year2! he must be better than his brother ,lol,listen leblanc is a blank and simon is a joke ,and when Simon wins it looks like he et's some help!Good to know he trains for his family. cause if they didnt employ him he would be pumping gas at petro across from the racetrack.Just keep defending the race fixing !

Anonymous said...

So the horse doesnt like the whip...trainers have the option of entering a horse without a whip, is leblank that stupid? i mean i have seen alot of trainers enter horses without the whip! and why wasnt down on this horse scrubbing away? this just doesnt look good at all, i have bin trainning horses for 15 years and i really dont know how leblank could be happy with that ride when he was denied of a win due to husbands lack of effort on his horse.

Anonymous said...

bugs boy didnt look like he was backing up when husbands finally decided to ask him to run in the last 15yards of the race, the horse seemed to be responding rather well. if he asked the horse for run with 50 yards out he wins by 2 easy lengths plus.

Anonymous said...

nothing will be done, woodbine will always stand behind husbands no matter what he does, anyone else and its the electric chair, very pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Why would they stand behind Simon? Patrick maybe, not Simon.
Also, if a trainer declares no whip, I think the rule is that you have to go without a whip for at least 3 races or something like that. I don't think that rule is right, but I think that is the rule.

Anonymous said...

fyi.....there was a hearing on wednsday afternoon and simon failed to show up. I dont exactly know what went on at the hearing but Simon did not show up.

Anonymous said...

Simon didnt show up yo the meeting, because he was in a meeting with other jockey'd fixing more races for the rest of the meet.

Anonymous said...

Now i can tell you one thing, there isnt any brotherly love at all between the Husband brothers i know this for a fact,but still i agree that the race was down right ugly and something wasnt right because Simon is a very agressive kind of rider and the fact that he was motionless paints a bad picture, i have mixed emotions and ask my self the question, why would a guy like SH jepodize what little hes got to aid his brother in the title race, what does he have to gain? SH has bin galloping horses all year for Mark Casse and riding the odd race trying to make ends meet, again my thoughts are mixed as i ask myself these questions and i lean toward SH being not guilty, i maybe right or wrong but i just cant make proper sense of this incident.

Anonymous said...

Any one see race 7 at hollywood park thursday ,another fixed photo! Have to see it to believe it....

Anonymous said...

It sounds like a number of people here believe that race-fixing happens on a daily basis at North American tracks...If so, why the hell would you continue to bet???

Anonymous said...

terrible ride simon...shame on you...i've seen monster horses win without being whipped but that looked like a measured loss...