Tua-Cameron fight captures interest of NZ punters

Media Release
5 October 2009

Tua v Cameron fight captures interest of New Zealand punters

The Tua v Cameron boxing fight on Saturday helped the TAB to achieve its biggest turnover day this year, New Zealand Racing Board Chief Executive Andrew Brown announced today.

The David Tua v Shane Cameron bout ended up being the fourth biggest individual sports betting event for the TAB since sporting betting first began in New Zealand in 1996 In total, New Zealanders wagered $1.14 million on the fight.

Along with the Kelt Capital Stakes in Hastings and a raft of Group 1 premier races from Australia, this helped to make Saturday the biggest turnover day so far this year and the third biggest for the TAB in the last 12 months.

A total of $11.5 million was bet on racing and sports through the TAB on Saturday, making it the third biggest day in the last year following Melbourne Cup Day ($17.2m) and Boxing Day ($13m).

“In total, the day’s turnover was up $330,000 on the same day last year but that was mainly due to the Tua v Cameron fight. The recession is still having an impact on wagering, which is evidenced by the fact that our racing Tote was down almost $1 million for the day compared to the same day last year,” Mr Brown said.

TAB Boxing Bookie Mark Stafford said there were nearly 50,000 individual bets placed on the Tua v Cameron boxing fight by New Zealanders with the bets being fairly evenly split between Tua and Cameron.

There were 945 punters who managed to pick Tua for a second round knockout as the correct result in the Pick the Round option, which ended up paying $11.00. A further 901 punters also picked a straight Tua knockout as the result in the Decision option, which ended up paying $1.60.

“The biggest bet was $100,000 on Tua to win, paying $1.50, which came in about 20 minutes before the fight,” Stafford said.

Tua made a devastating comeback on Saturday after a two year absence, knocking Cameron out just seven seconds into round two for a stunning victory. He also knocked Cameron down twice in the first round but the referee controversially allowed the bout to continue after he stopped the count because he thought he had heard the bell.

NZ Racing Board Chief Executive Andrew Brown said last week was a near record week for the TAB Sports Desk with the Tua v Cameron fight, the NRL Grand Final and the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals.

“In total, there was $5.3 million bet through the TAB last week just on sports events, which is a record week outside the last two Football World Cups,” Mr Brown said.

The top three biggest single sports betting events for the TAB were the Tua v Lewis boxing fight in 2000 ($2.1m), Brazil v Turkey in the Football World Cup in 2002 ($1.3m) and the inaugural sports betting event in New Zealand – the Bledisloe Cup rugby match at Athletic Park in Wellington in 1996 ($1.15m).

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