A former professional rugby league player has been found not guilty of charges relating to illicit betting. John Elias, 48, pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to gain a financial advantage of $98,000 from Tabcorp by deception on August 19, 2010. The game in question was between North Queensland Cowboys and Canterbury Bulldogs with a player from the latter, Ryan Tandy, arrested by police earlier this year.
The court heard that Elias placed bets to the sum of $5,500 on the fixture that took place on August 21. Betting was suspended after wagers were ten times more than usual on this option and it made up the first of five wagers put on by Elias. The magistrate explained there was “good reason” for the Police to prosecute Elias but the fact it was a multi-bet presented little chance of success.
It’s thought one of those also accused, Bulldogs’ coach Sam Ayoub, told Elias of the plan and to put money on the outcome. If all five bets had come off, the aforementioned figure of $98,000 was there for the taking. Magistrate Peter Miszalski added taking a different route may have paid off for the prosecution.
“Ideally, the matter would have been run a lot better, more easily and more successfully had they been charged with a conspiracy,” Miszalski said.
NRL clubs have signed a number of sponsorship deals in the past year with gambling industry firms and it’s something that the no-fun brigade are clinging onto. They argue that allowing so-called “exotic” bets is causing corruption in the sport. We can show them plenty of examples of what happens if you prohibit certain classes of bets and it isn’t pretty!
