Euro Sport – Australia’s National Rugby League will investigate allegations that one of its top officials knew about Canterbury Bulldogs forward Ryan Tandy’s gambling problems but failed to take action before the player was convicted of match-fixing. Tandy, banned from the NRL for life after attempting to fix a 2010 match, was found dead last week at his parents’ house in eastern New South Wales state having suffered an apparent drug overdose. State media reported this week that the NRL’s head of football Todd Greenberg was made aware of Tandy’s gambling problems when he was chief executive of the Sydney-based…

Australian Gambling – A global online betting firm, which is believed to owe Australian customers in excess of a million dollars, has shut up shop and “can’t be contacted”. Gamblers from Australia, UK, India, Eastern Europe and Canada have been unable to access thousands of dollars in winnings since late last year. The company in question, Canbet, said in December the issue was due to a computer glitch and promised to pay customers as soon as it could. But angry punters, with over $20,000 owed to them, have contacted AustralianGambling with complaints about the company, which is licenced with the…

Australian Gambling – The two men leading William Hill’s base of operations in Australia are set to part ways with the UK gambling giant. William Hill Australian chief executive Michael Sullivan and chief operating officer Anthony Waller have reportedly been in discussions with the company in what is being described as a ‘management re-shuffle’. The Age reported a number of meetings had taken place on the future leadership structure of the company in Australia, but neither the company nor the Sullivan and Waller would comment. Whether the decision is mutual between the parties, or William Hill is attempting to move…

Online-Casinos.com – There are many questions being raised today about what video games are doing to our youth. Not that young people are the only ones to play games. After all it was the older demographic that started the video game trend way back before the abundance of cell phones and mobile computers. The biggest question being asked by the academics is not whether the internet has an impact on youth its is how much is the use of the internet affecting their lives. We hear of bullying going on over the internet and all kinds of other trouble the…

Calvin Ayre – James Packer, boss of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd., has asked his country’s government to revise their tourist visa policies to make it easier for Chinese high rollers to visit his casinos. Packer told the Herald Sun that it was “hypocritical” for the government to maintain visa requirements that make it harder for wealthy Chinese to enter the country than wealthy Americans. Packer, who believes the rising clout of Chinese consumers will “profoundly aspect every aspect of our economy,” said it was “stupid” that “visa applications are done in English, not Mandarin.” Packer also complained that…

The Sydney Morning Herald – One-armed bandits are blamed for robbing Sydney of its live music scene, but pokies may be the saviour of the industry under a plan adopted by the City of Sydney. The council will lobby the state government to support the live music industry using money from gaming revenue. It is one of 57 recommendations in the City of Sydney’s Live Music Taskforce’s final action plan that were unanimously adopted at a meeting of councillors on Monday. A City of Sydney spokeswoman said a similar program in South Australia had become a valuable resource supporting live…