Rival agency’s bid to land bookmaker Tom Waterhouse in trouble fails

Illegal gambling charges against Tom Waterhouse had to be dropped after it was revealed a rival betting agency were involved in a scheme to land the bookmaker in trouble with the law.

Illegal gambling advertising charges against Tom Waterhouse have been dropped after it was revealed a rival agency had set up the scion of the famous racing family.

Waterhouse was slapped with 14 charges of publishing illegal gambling advertisements, which if he had been found guilty, carried potential fines of more than $150,000.

Waterhouse – the son of high-profile horse trainer Gai Waterhouse and bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse – was ordered to front the Downing Centre Local Court on March 3, 2021. The case progressed until October 10 when prosecutors told Magistrate Miranda Moody the charges were being withdrawn.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal this came after it was uncovered the person who reported Waterhouse was from a rival betting agency, according to a source familiar with the case.

Charges against Tom Waterhouse were withdrawn. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

This rival forwarded a series of emails and promotional material to Liquor and Gaming NSW.

It is understood the rival either received the material from a customer or engineered a situation where they received it themselves.

Waterhouse was accused of breaching the state’s strict gambling advertising rules by offering punters an inducement to go to the betting site run by his father Robbie.

But the case fell apart when the rival betting operative refused to appear in court as a witness to support the charges, a source close to the case said.

That, combined with a technical legal issue, resulted in the prosecutor telling the court the charges were being withdrawn.

A Liquor and Gaming NSW spokesman declined to comment and Mr Waterhouse did not return calls.

Robbie Waterhouse is facing charges relating to a customer’s betting account.

While a guilty verdict could have resulted in a hefty fine, there are calls for harsher penalties for breaches of the gambling advertising rules amid claims bookmakers simply factor the fines for such offences into their budgets.

Meanwhile his father Robbie – arguably Australia’s best-known bookmaker after the 1984 Fine Cotton scandal – is facing charges of his own.

The 67-year-old is set to face Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday on 11 charges relating to alleged attempts to have a single customer reopen, or not shut down, their betting accounts.

He has not yet indicated to the court whether he intends to fight these charges.

Five of the charges relate to allegedly incentivising a person against shutting down their betting account following a closure request.

All 11 charges revolved around the customer’s use of RobWaterhouse.com.