How mum’s superstitious Melbourne Cup bet created chaos for NRL star AJ Brimson
It was the Melbourne Cup omen bet that created chaos for Gold Coast Titans star AJ Brimson. As the NRL continues its probe, Camp Brimson reveals the series of innocent events they believe will clear his name.
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It was the Melbourne Cup omen bet that created chaos for Gold Coast Titans star AJ Brimson.
Brimson is at the centre of an NRL Integrity Unit investigation following what he thought was an innocuous social media post.
In the hours after rank outsider Knight’s Choice saluted in the race that stops a nation on Tuesday, Brimson took to his Instagram account.
The NRL has been told that Brimson spent the day socialising at up-market bar Nineteen at The Star Casino on the Gold Coast.
That is when his mother, Vanessa Brimson, apparently contacted her son to tell him she had won big on the Cup.
Vanessa’s first husband and the father of her three sons, Ian Brimson, died in 2011.
Her current partner’s name is Kerry Knight – spurring the omen bet on Knight’s Choice at the juicy odds of $101 with Sportsbet.
The $100 outlay generated a $10,100 return.
The NRL has been told AJ couldn’t resist the urge to post a screenshot of the bet result to his Instagram stories.
It is understood Brimson was on the verge of being given the all-clear by the NRL on Wednesday night, their investigations confirming the Gold Coast star’s version of events.
A haphazard attempt had been made to erase the bets below it.
“See you at Pav,” Brimson captioned the post with, a reference to his favourite watering hole The Burleigh Pavilion.
Eagle-eyed punters noticed a “First Try-Scorer” bet on a rugby league game had been erased.
Under strict match-fixing rules, NRL players are banned from betting on fixtures and the Instagram post appeared to show historical bets, piquing the interest of the Integrity Unit after it went viral on social media.
Brimson later deleted the post and the suggestion is his mother had placed the NRL bets on him during a Titans game.
Vanessa and AJ Brimson did not return calls on Wednesday but the player’s long-term manager, Jim Banaghan, said the post was a prank gone wrong.
“It was a little bit of harmless fun that backfired,” he said.
“He was just pretending he won it when it was another family member.
“The Integrity Unit is having a good look at it and appear to be very comfortable with everything at the moment. It’s going nowhere.
“Unfortunately for those who want a good story, this isn’t one of them. I can fully understand everyone getting excited but there’s nothing to be excited about.
“Congratulations to his mum for backing a 100-1 winner – I wish it was me.”
While Brimson’s camp has presented its side of the story, the NRL investigation is yet to be completed.
The NRL’s gambling partner is Sportsbet, potentially providing head office with the contacts needed to get to the bottom of the saga.
NRL players and officials are forbidden from betting on rugby league games while they are registered with the governing body.
The standard playing contract specifically states that a player must not participate either directly or indirectly in gambling in relation to the NRL competition when it comes to the performance of a player or team, or the outcome or course of a match.
The NRL, which generates up to $80 million a year in revenue from gambling on the game, has agreements in place with bookmakers which allows them to monitor whether rugby league players are gambling on the game.
A handful of players have been banned over the years for gambling on NRL fixtures.
The last player to be banned from the game for gambling on matches was former Wests Tigers centre Tim Simona.
Brimson, 26, is currently enjoying the final days of his off-season leave before he reports back for Titans training, potentially with an Integrity Unit investigation hanging over his head.
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Originally published as How mum’s superstitious Melbourne Cup bet created chaos for NRL star AJ Brimson
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