NRL bans betting on Dally M in wake of coach award scandal
The NRL has banned wagering on the Dally M Awards to quell future controversy after a betting scandal involving the 2019 coach of the year award.
Peter V'landys has cleared several hurdles to get the NRL on the brink of resuming its season.(AAP: Joel Carrett)
It comes after police charged the chief executive and general manager of a Sydney sports software company for allegedly using inside knowledge of last year’s event to successfully back Craig Bellamy to win.
It’s understood the cancellation of all markets for this year’s Dally M Awards will force thousands of dollars to be refunded to punters.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the cancellation of all markets, in which Roosters fullback James Tedesco was favoured to win the medal in back-to-back years, is likely to cause thousands of dollars in refunds to punters.
Markets opened before a ball had been kicked and the competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak following the first two rounds.
The NRL wrote to all bookmakers on Thursday morning and said the Australian Rugby League Commission has given a directive there be no betting on the Dally M Medal in 2020.
Two executives of sports data company StatEdge, which compiled the voting results for the NRL, were last week charged with using prior knowledge to bet on the result of the coach of the year, which was won by Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy.
-AAP
