MEDIA STATEMENT
Te Ururoa Flavell
MP for Waiariki
Friday 8th February 2013
MP Calls On Tab To Suspend Sports Betting
Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki, has called on the TAB to suspend betting on Super XV, NRL and A-League games until
it can categorically assure punters that the competitions are clean and fair.
“The news out of Australia this week about widespread doping and match-fixing in their major sports must be a huge wake
up call for New Zealand as well,” said Mr Flavell.
“This is nightmare stuff for true sports fans. One of the things we worried about with the move to professionalism was
that money would corrupt the soul of sports. When it’s all about the money, the real meaning of sport gets lost.”
Mr Flavell said that the TAB needs to get ahead of the game and demonstrate to all New Zealanders why we should trust
any sports betting at all.
“The Australian reports mean that our TAB cannot be confident that the competitions they have been taking money on are
clean and fair. They need to tell us exactly what they are doing to track down the bad guys and why we should trust
them. They cannot sit back and wait for evidence of wrong-doing to just drop into their laps.”
“If they can’t put their hands on their hearts, look us in the eye, and say ‘this is clean’, they should not be making
money from a dodgy product.”
ENDS