NZ mum's big bet set off scam bells

Photo / Duncan Brown

A pram-pushing mother who did not know how to fill in a betting slip tipped New Zealand's TAB off to one of the biggest betting scandals to hit Australasian sport.

Flags went up at the betting agency when the woman tried to place a bet in the "thousands" on North Queensland to open the scoring with a penalty during the National Rugby League match against the Bulldogs, said TAB senior bookmaker Mark Stafford.

The match, played last August, is under police investigation in Australia. The New Zealand connection has only just emerged.

The Herald has learned that on the day of the match, the woman, with her baby, entered a TAB - understood to be in South Auckland - and asked a staff member to help her place a large wager on North Queensland opening the scoring with a penalty, usually a very unlikely outcome.

Mr Stafford said bets on the first scoring play in league were normally for $100 or less, and for a try. "Anything over that you think, 'That's a bit weird'."

He said the bet, in the thousands, would have cost the TAB tens of thousands if the punter had been paid out.

The attempted bet came up as an "alarm" at head office as part of the agency's intercept system, which can be triggered by bets as small as $100.

"We get heaps of intercepts every day that amount to nothing, but this particular one, because it was such a weird option that we hold very little money on, stood out," Mr Stafford said.

The TAB restricted the woman's bet to about $50, then immediately suspended the first-scoring option on that match.

Staff made urgent calls to betting agencies in Australia and, on learning that they had been hit with similar bets, cancelled the option.

The TAB has sent its information to New South Wales police.

Several league figures are under investigation for the alleged sting, including Bulldogs prop Ryan Tandy, who was penalised for holding down a player under his posts. North Queensland opted not to kick for goal, foiling the alleged fix.

Tandy has been charged with giving false evidence to a NSW Crime Commission hearing and faces jail and a life ban from league if found guilty.

At the weekend, the International Cricket Council banned three Pakistan players for five to 10 years for their part in a spot-fixing scam in England.

But Mr Stafford said there was not even a hint of a betting irregularity during the Pakistan series that concluded in Auckland on Saturday.

"We had the magnifying glass out quite seriously on that ... You see the slightest little pimple and suspect leprosy, but we didn't even see any pimples."