Injury Books -- British Olympic swimmer Sarah Price gashed her leg on an underwater camera Monday during a warm-up for the semi-finals of the 100 meter backstroke, prompting Irish bookmaker Paddy Power to open odds on a number of freakish and horrific injuries. Paddy Power is offering 10-1 odds that a fencer is impaled by a sword, 33-1 that an archer receives an arrow in the eye, 11-2 that a steward is struck by a hammer, shot or javelin, 10-1 that a diver hits his head on a diving board (as Greg Louganis did in Seoul in 1988), 4-1 that a pole vaulter is hurt by a snapped pole, and 11-4 that a gymnast falls of the pommel horse. Paddy Power has already paid out on 6-4 odds that an equestrian competitor would be thrown from his horse and has consequently trimmed the odds of another rider being thrown to 5-4. The Longest odds are 66-1 that an athlete will be involved in a motorbike crash after missing a drug test.
Bet Among Bookies -- Bookmaker Victor Chandler has accepted a £1 million bet from rival bookie Fred Done that Man Utd. will finish ahead of Chelsea at the end of the Premiership season. Commenting on the wager, Chandler said, "It will make the season interesting for both of us. From my point of view it means that I have no idea who I will be championing later in the season. Obviously, with the volume of bets, both big and small stakes that we take during the season, the bet has no significance on our pricing. I will be switching my allegiance based on where the money goes in the company. Nevertheless, we will be looking for ways, as always, to pass some of the value back to our smaller customers in specials on Man Utd. and Chelsea."
Numbers Dispute -- Mintel International Group, a media and consumer intelligence company, has published a report stating that gambling on Britain's National Lottery has dwindled in the last five years while betting on horses, dogs and bingo is recovering. Mintel reports that 11 percent of British adults bet on horses, dogs or sporting events in November 1999, then only 6 percent placed such bets in May 2002, but by May 2004, 10 percent had placed such bets. Mintel's numbers also show that 76 percent of British adults purchased tickets for the Saturday National Lottery draw in November 1999, but only 63 percent did so in May 2004. According to Mark Brechin, a leisure analyst at Mintel, "The situation for Camelot does look pretty precarious." He added, "The introduction of new games has failed to sustain long-term interest. The biggest problem seems to be the way the lottery is run. People are bored with the main Lotto draw and want more prizes with lower jackpots. They also want to see the money they spend go back to their local communities." Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery, contests Mintel's findings, however, and has denounced its report as a "spin" that is riddled with inaccuracies. Camelot says that in April it released figures showing that the lottery was experiencing growth for the first time in six years. The company also claims the percentage of adults playing the lottery's main draw has lingered close to 70 percent, not as low as 63 percent as reported by Mintel.
Hard Time -- The Canadian who mounted an Olympic diving board wearing a tutu and GoldenPalace.com tattoos and then leapt into the pool has been sentenced to a five month jail sentence in Athens and fined 300 euros for a public order offence. He has been released for now and will likely appeal the conviction.
Personnel Changes -- Paul Collis has resigned as managing director of Stanley Leisure's gaming division. He is replaced by Michael Riddy, who joined the company as finance director in 1998. Colin Child, a former finance director and chief operating officer for Fitness First, will take over the finance director vacancy left by Riddy.
VirtGame Corp., which provides software solutions to the gaming and lottery industries, has appointed Mark Newburg as its new CEO and President. Newburg, who will also serve on VirtGame's board of directors, has over 25 years of experience in domestic and international gaming, hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, and financial services. He was once president of Aristocrat Technologies, a subsidiary of Australian Aristocrat Leisure.
OnlineCasinoNews.com reports that Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd., the Australian company that recently entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Betfair to develop a betting exchange for Australia, has begun reshuffling some of its top management positions in preparation for its entrance into the gambling industry.