Victoria
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Victorian bookmakers hold fears for up to $2m in funds invested with a trusted suburban law firm.
The fund is a mutual protection arrangement to guarantee payment to punters if a member of the Victorian Bookmakers Association can’t honour wagering debts.
Bookmakers were very concerned on Saturday night after a bruising Cox Plate day in which a string of favourites emptied their satchels.
Early rumours were that there are irregularities with the fund which were discovered after the recent death of veteran Ivanhoe lawyer John Adams.
But bookmaking sources have today suggested that the sum of money that appears to be unaccounted for is less than $2m, roughly a third of the funds they have tied up in conservative mortgage investments managed by the law firm concerned.
Adams, in his 80s when he died this month, founded AMS lawyers in Ivanhoe in 1966.
One of the earliest partners in the firm is lawyer Shane Maguire, known to have assisted the bookmakers’ association with legal and financial matters for decades. It is believed that Mr Maguire raised the alarm after his senior partner’s death.
The association took steps to protect members and the betting public following problems when a prominent Victorian bookie went broke and was subsequently banned from racetracks because of his association with the disgraced jockey Danny Nikolic and his brother, John Nikolic.
The VBA fund is made up of contributions from bookmakers which are supposed to be invested by the law firm in first mortgage loans.
But after Mr Adams died recently, someone “blew the whistle” — suggesting that a large amount of money may have vanished.
Bookmakers association office holders fielded calls from worried bookmakers on Sunday and Monday.
Joint chairs Lyndon Hsu and Chris Lester have politely declined to comment on the record at this point but agree that a large sum is currently unaccounted for and that they are taking steps to clarify the situation for their members.
A prominent bookmaker and former association heavyweight said he was confident most of the fund had been invested conservatively in “bricks and mortar” and that it should not be a case of anyone “having a play with it.”
Asked if it were possible that bookies would invest their money with anyone who was a punter, he said it was unlikely because bookmakers knew most punters. But he couldn’t rule it out.
Originally published as Victorian bookmakers fear $2m missing from fund invested with Ivanhoe law firm
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