Sports Bet news from http://www.stuff.co.nz/
It's the morning of the World Cup football semifinal between Germany and Italy and Kevin Gutschlag looks frazzled.
He's is one of 10 sports bookmakers that have been monitoring bets at the TAB's Petone offices and sweating on the results.
The volume of bets passing through Gutschlag's computer for approval each day is at fever pitch during the World Cup, with turnover expected to top the $22 million thrown at the 2002 edition.
"One guy put $94,000 on Germany qualifying for the final, so that last-minute goal was quite a good turnaround for us," he says matter-of-factly.
The image of a stricken German fan is quickly erased as Gutschlag explains one punter has turned $3000 into $500,000 during the tournament.
"He's made it within the last two or three weeks. We'd never heard of him before. You just never know."
Legendary All Black Colin Meads placed the first sports bet in New Zealand on behalf of charity, putting $100 on the All Blacks to beat Australia in the 1996 Bledisloe Cup test in Wellington. Meads also put $100 on the home team to win by more than 13 points. The All Blacks' 43-6 win netted a $160 return, though two additional punts on the first tryscorer were less successful.
It set in motion a scenario that has played out for thousands of Kiwi sports fans since 1996.
Everybody's got a story when it comes to sports betting – the time a late try denied them a massive pay day, the time they were going to put a big punt on the winner, but changed their mind at the last minute.
Since Meads' modest punt, the stakes have risen for the TAB and the punter – hence Gutschlag's increasingly hectic mornings. Business is booming.
Turnover from sports betting has rocketed from $30 million in 1996 to $130 million this year. It now accounts for about 20 per cent of the TAB's business.
"It has exceeded expectations," Gutschlag said. "We have not had a disappointing year on the way and we've been able to put $14 million back into the sporting codes.
"We used to do 60 betting options at one time, now we have 500 options.
"In our first year we were only doing betting on five sports, which quickly moved to 19. Now it's up to 30."
The government approved fixed odds sports betting in December 1995, but with strict controls.
The TAB can only take bets with the permission of the sports bodies involved and law stipulates they give 1 per cent of their turnover and 5 per cent of profits back to the sports.
The government has also pocketed a handy $32 million, probably the closest anyone's got to a sure thing in the decade since. By far the biggest sport Kiwis punt on is rugby ($280 million), with rugby league ($180 million), football ($136 million), basketball ($62 million) and cricket ($54 million) the other big earners.
The biggest single event was boxer David Tua's world heavyweight challenge against Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas in 2000. Kiwi punters poured $3 million on the fight, mostly ill-advised bets on an injured Tua.
It hints at an interesting trait of the kiwi punter – blind loyalty.
During the Shell Cricket Trophy final between Canterbury and Otago at Lancaster Park in 1997, fans couldn't resist the TAB's odds of 2000-1 on the last day of the game.
Canterbury had smashed 777 runs in their first innings. Otago needed almost 500 runs on the final day just to make them bat again.
"People were still whacking $5 on an Otago win," TAB head bookie Grant Nisbett laughs. "It's incredible, but as long as there's a chance . . ."
That's been great news for the TAB's bottom line, something they keep as secret as the process used to set the odds.
But they can take a hammering too.
A Shell station worker in Upper Hutt famously put $50 on the All Blacks to lose to France in the 1999 World Cup semifinal by exactly 12 points.
Amazingly, the same punter returned later in the day to put another $400 on – he was that sure. Few will forget the result – All Blacks 43, France 31 – but none will remember it quite as clearly as the punter who pocketed $67,500 when Jeff Wilson scored a late consolation try.
In May this year, a lucky punter put $118 on a four-horse multi. Art Link, Surprizer Phew, Teepeem and Doringo obediently came home at varying fixed odds for a tidy $249,865 return – a new record payout.
Perhaps the most famous punter of all was Graham "Steel Balls" Bruton, who won hundreds of thousands on rugby and rugby league, lost it all, fled the country in debt and was banned from betting.
"There's a lot of guys who just refuse to believe they can't do better than us," Gutschlag says.
Nisbett agrees.
"They get out of their comfort zones. And that's when they fall over. They start off betting on one sport, but as they get some success they get cocky and move out of their comfort level."
But the TAB would love to cater to more than just sports junkies.
"We would like to do betting on novelty events like New Zealand Idol or Dancing with the Stars. It's quite frustrating, because we think there's a big market there," Gutschlag said.
Some have no doubt lost interest after an early loss, but for many it's a regular pastime.
The TAB has about 100,000 account holders, but Gutschlag reckons very few are professional gamblers.
The TAB's "professional" customers are normally bookies from across the Tasman.
Amazingly, some are so adept at their craft they can achieve what's known as an arbitrage when they bet both ways on the same event at different international odds to assure a return.
But then again, what's the point?
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