But now to the race that stops the nation — which is on tomorrow — and which has a News Corp venture in a spot of bother:

News Corp-backed Betr probed over Melbourne Cup odds

Online wagering upstart Betr Australia is facing an investigation by NSW’s gambling watchdog over concerns the new company broke gaming laws by offering 100-1 odds for the November 1 Melbourne Cup.

– The Australian Financial Review, 14 October, 2022

Oh dear. Naughty, naughty. 

Offering crazy odds to punters who open a betting account can be an inducement to gamble, which is illegal.

And Betr’s odds — splashed across the News Corp tabloids in these huge double-page ads — were mad:

100-1 ODDS 

ANY HORSE TO WIN THE MELBOURNE CUP

Max bet $10. One bet per customer. 

– The Daily Telegraph, 13 October, 2022

Ads for that wager ran in all of News Corp’s big-city tabloids in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart.

And, predictably, the punters came rushing. The Cup favourite, Deauville Legend, was only 5-1 in the market, offering winnings of $50 for a $10 bet. 

But Betr was promising to pay $1000 for the same $10 stake, or 20 times the reward for the same amount of risk. 

So, is Betr now in trouble? Possibly yes, because New South Wales Liquor and Gaming has ordered the company to explain why it should not be prosecuted.

As it told the AFR:

“We are investigating and will respond to any breaches with the full force of the law.”

– The Australian Financial Review, 14 October, 2022

So, who is Betr? 

Well, it’s a new sports betting company — 33 per cent owned by News Corp — which was launched last month as the spring racing season got under way. 

It’s run by Matthew Tripp, who built BetEasy and Sportsbet into huge Australian brands. And he’s made it clear that he chummed up with News Corp for the group’s enormous promotional punch:

Tripp … said his ambitions to launch another wagering company came from the idea of leveraging the assets of media partner News Corp, which owns the cable and streaming company Foxtel as well as mastheads including The Australian and The Daily Telegraph.

– The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October, 2022

And you can add another Murdoch spruiker to that powerful list because ads on Sky News have also been pushing the company:

ANNOUNCER: That’s why we’ve made a betting brand for sports fans that’s Betr. Gamble responsibly.

– Sky News Australia, 24 October, 2022

But ads in the News Corp tabloids have been pushing even harder.

While the 100-1 offer is no longer running in the Telegraph, thanks to the New South Wales gambling watchdog, it has been blazing away in the other tabloids in a campaign worth millions of dollars.

With 17 ads on our count in The Courier-Mail, 17 in the Herald Sun and 24 in The Advertiser in around two weeks.

And the Murdoch tabloids are also running generic ads for the Betr brand.

What’s more, they have new branded editorial pages highlighting bets for punters, with a handy QR code at the bottom to take you straight to the betting site. It’s hard to imagine a bigger blitzkrieg.

But you can expect to see more editorial in future.

News Corp has staked millions in the USA on a sports-betting venture called Foxbet. And here’s a segment on Fox & Friends spruiking a $5,000 Foxbet quiz, with all the hosts playing along: 

TOM SHILLUE: You gotta download the app to get that sixth question.

STEVE DOOCY: And don’t forget Terry Bradshaw’s $1 million jackpot is back for week two of the NFL season. Make your Fox Super 6 picks now and your chance to win big. 

– Fox & Friends, Fox News, 17 September, 2021

Foxbet is one of the official betting partners of America’s National Football League, the NFL.

And Betr is hoping to match that in Australia by partnering with the AFL and slotting into Foxtel’s footy coverage. In which case, expect to see segments like this:

SARAH JONES: Alright, let’s check in with Sportsbet for the latest.

NATHAN BROWN: Grand final day is building nicely. We’ve had the same amount of money for both.

– AFL Grand Final Countdown, Fox Footy (via Kayo), 24 September, 2022

Only with News Corp’s Betr branding instead.

So, apart from bringing us wall-to-wall gambling promotion — which is bad enough — what might this marriage bring to News Corp’s coverage of gambling? And will the tabloids be fearless in their reporting? 

One hint lies in News Corp’s treatment of Betr’s current run-in with the New South Wales gaming regulator.  

Tough, honest, straight down the line? Well no, because there hasn’t been any coverage. Or not as far as we can see.

But the Tele has told readers how well the new betting brand is going: 

Betr has five times as many customers than it expected at this point in time and has already taken more than a million bets in only 12 days since launching.

– The Daily Telegraph, 24 October, 2022

And that was a week ago. 

Last month, when Betr was launched, Crikey’s Bernard Keane asked:

… who will hold to account a major online gambling company with direct links to the nation’s most powerful media organisation?

– Crikey, 7 October, 2022

But there is a bigger, broader problem. And that is: how tough will News Corp journalists be, for example, on proposals to limit gambling ads on TV? Or on the growing scourge of problem gambling in sports betting?

I fear we know the answer. 

The gambling industry is already a massive money spinner for the media, spending $287 million on advertising in 2021, according to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

And every day on Victorian free-to-air TV there were on average 948 gambling ads. Yes, 948 every day. 

And that bonanza already tempts companies to break the rules.

Ten days ago, Seven and Nine were nailed by the broadcasting watchdog, the ACMA — Seven, for showing 49 betting ads during the Olympics when children would have been watching and Nine for broadcasting a betting ad during the NRL grand final.

But owning a betting outfit promises even bigger financial rewards and even more pressure on journalists.

And problem gambling expert Charles Livingstone from Monash University sees danger: 

News Corp will take this one step further I think. To their credit, the Herald Sun and to a lesser extent the Daily Telegraph have been critical of poker machine gambling, especially where it involves football codes. But of course having a deal with a wagering company seems likely to muzzle critical voices.

– Email, Assoc Professor Charles Livingstone, Monash University, 26 October, 2022

We hope he’s wrong. We fear he’s not. 

In future, getting media support for curbs on gambling and protection for problem gamblers is likely to be more and more difficult to come by.

We asked News Corp whether it now has a major conflict of interest between its commercial advantage and editorial integrity. It ignored our questions, but told us: 

News Corp is a minority shareholder in Betr and has no control of its daily operations. 

– Email, News Corp Australia spokesman, 28 October, 2022

And you can read the full statement — which does not address the issues we raised — on our website, along with a statement from New South Wales Gaming which says it remains “seriously concerned” about Betr’s ad campaign.