Monthly Archives: January 2016

William Hill Australian Open betting turnover surges; NSW fines Bet365, Unibet

The Australian division of UK bookmaker William Hill says its Australian Open betting turnover is up 80% despite a match-fixing controversy.

On Tuesday, William Hill Australia reported that its betting turnover on the first day of the Australian Open tennis meet is up 80% from the first day of 2015’s tournament, while in-play wagers are up 297% (the latter stat undoubtedly aided by Hills’ new in-play app).

Hills paid a reputed $5m to become the Open’s first betting sponsor but the timing has proven awkward. The Open’s first day saw the release of a joint investigation by the BBC and BuzzFeed News that claimed the tennis world’s match-fixing problem was far greater than originally suspected.

Hills’ courtside ads drew a public rebuke on Monday from the sport’s top-two ranked players. Andy Murray said he found the ads “a little bit hypocritical” and wondered why tournaments were allowed betting sponsorships while individual players were prohibited from entering into such arrangements.

William Hill Australian Open betting turnover surges; NSW fines Bet365, Unibet

The Australian division of UK bookmaker William Hill says its Australian Open betting turnover is up 80% despite a match-fixing controversy.

On Tuesday, William Hill Australia reported that its betting turnover on the first day of the Australian Open tennis meet is up 80% from the first day of 2015’s tournament, while in-play wagers are up 297% (the latter stat undoubtedly aided by Hills’ new in-play app).

Hills paid a reputed $5m to become the Open’s first betting sponsor but the timing has proven awkward. The Open’s first day saw the release of a joint investigation by the BBC and BuzzFeed News that claimed the tennis world’s match-fixing problem was far greater than originally suspected.

Hills’ courtside ads drew a public rebuke on Monday from the sport’s top-two ranked players. Andy Murray said he found the ads “a little bit hypocritical” and wondered why tournaments were allowed betting sponsorships while individual players were prohibited from entering into such arrangements.

Quirky scholarships reward random attributes

Are you white and living in Hawaii? A Jewish orphan studying aeronautical engineering? Or maybe your mom, dad or grandma teaches school in Antioch? Alongside essay questions and SAT scores, UC’s application for aspiring students has become a virtual matchmaker for scholarship endowments, asking applicants everything from whether they are small-town mechanics, have ancestors from Pon Yup, China, or are interested in dairying, dry-land farming or dance. UC campuses handed out nearly 10,000 of these undergraduate scholarships totaling $36.5 million in 2014-15 — an average award of more than $3,500, according to its financial aid report.

Quirky scholarships reward random attributes

Are you white and living in Hawaii? A Jewish orphan studying aeronautical engineering? Or maybe your mom, dad or grandma teaches school in Antioch? Alongside essay questions and SAT scores, UC’s application for aspiring students has become a virtual matchmaker for scholarship endowments, asking applicants everything from whether they are small-town mechanics, have ancestors from Pon Yup, China, or are interested in dairying, dry-land farming or dance. UC campuses handed out nearly 10,000 of these undergraduate scholarships totaling $36.5 million in 2014-15 — an average award of more than $3,500, according to its financial aid report.

Texas AG latest to declare that daily fantasy sports is illegal gambling

Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton (pictured) has added his name to the list of AG’s that have declared daily fantasy sports to be illegal gambling.

In December, Paxton announced that state legislators had asked him to weigh in on the legality of DFS. On Tuesday, Paxton released his opinion, in which he concluded: “It is prohibited gambling in Texas if you bet on the performance of a participant in a sporting event and the house takes a cut.”

Texas law contains wording that undercuts most pro-DFS arguments, in that it bans betting on an event determined either “solely or partially by chance” and a skill-game exception applies only to the “actual contestants in a bona fide contest for the determination of skill.”

Paxton’s opinion cites a number of instances in which chance can override the alleged skill of a DFS contestant, such as a baseball player’s decision to charge the mound and being ejected from the game. Paxton says the DFS proponents’ argument “that skill so predominates that chance is minimal is nonetheless an admission that chance is an element and partial chance is involved.”

VIP market takes a beating in Q4 but Macau posts first sequential improvement

Macau’s VIP gambling market took a beating in Q4 2015, but the overall revenue number posted its only sequential improvement of the year.

According to figures released Tuesday by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), total casino gaming revenue in Q4 came to MOP 54.8b (US $6.8b), down 27% from Q4 2015. However, the figure was up 1% from Q3 2015, and any positive traction will be welcome after the pain Macau endured in 2015.

As expected, most of the Q4 pain was borne by the VIP sector, which fell 35.8% year-on-year to MOP 29.6b. Full-year VIP revenue was down 39.9% to MOP 127.8b. The VIP share of the overall pie slipped to 54%, well off the mid-70s peak of Macau’s heyday.

The mass market was unable to right Macau’s sinking ship, as it had its own problems. Counting slots activity, Q4 mass market revenue fell 14.5% to MOP 25.2b, although its share of the overall pie improved to 46% from 39.1%. For the year as a whole, mass revenue was down 26% to MOP 103b.