KEY POINTS:
Betfair began covering New Zealand racing yesterday - but someone forgot to tell the Avondale Jockey Club they were involved.
Betfair, the world's leading betting exchange, listed the second and third races from yesterday's Avondale meeting on the Australian Racing Zone of their website.
Betfair also covered most of the races from Trentham.
Avondale JC racing manager Jim Patterson knew nothing about Betfair covering their meeting.
"It's news to me, no one has told us anything and I'd like to know who gave the green light to Betfair to do this," said Patterson.
Racing Board chief executive Graeme Hansen acknowledged Betfair covered the Avondale races. He referred comment to NZ Thoroughbred Racing chairman Guy Sargent but he could not be reached.
Betfair offers punters the opportunity to bet that an outcome will happen (back) or that it won't (lay). Bets are matched between people with opposing views.
Punters can choose the odds they play at and bet during an event. When punters back a selection they are betting it will win. When punters lay, they are betting against their selection winning.
Punters never know who they are betting against and Betfair takes a percentage of each transaction.
Betfair is a licensed bookmaker in the United Kingdom, Australia, Malta, Austria and Germany.
The concern for New Zealand racing is the integrity of the sport.
If a punter is aware a racehorse is carrying any type of injury into a race or is using a race as means of improving fitness, they could lay the horse at generous odds on Betfair to lose.
Smart punters surf the internet shopping for the best betting odds and may back the horse to win.
A classic example of the fear of Betfair becoming involved in New Zealand racing was the recent acquittal of champion Irish jockey Kieren Fallon of race fixing.
Fallon was arrested three and a half years ago and later charged with conspiracy to defraud customers of Betfair.
He and fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams were accused of agreeing to stop 27 racehorses between December 2002 and September 2004.
Fallon rode in 17 of the races under review but the problem was that he won five times.
Flawed evidence saw the case thrown out of court last month.
Betfair media consultant Andrew Twaits said the agency had been engaged in discussions with NZTR for over a year.
"Whilst there is no legal requirement to do so, to the extent we cover NZ races, we want to make an appropriate contribution to NZTR and have appropriate integrity management arrangements in place."
Twaits said Betfair advised weeks ago that because its competitors in Australia had been covering New Zealand thoroughbred racing, the agency wanted to start coverage.
