Bookmakers retaliate in battle over tax on FOBT high street casinos

Fixed odds betting terminals, known as FOBTs, are commonplace in betting shops all over Britain. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

The waiting goes on to discover what, if anything, the Government proposes to do next about the addictive, high-stakes roulette and gaming machines which have created several thousand mini-casinos on our high streets. The pushers, however – they used to be called "bookmakers" – appear to be trying to get their retaliation in first.

In addition to the sound of a virtual roulette ball dropping into a slot every 20 seconds, and the occasional disturbance caused by a player cursing or even attacking a machine after it has sucked in their last pound, betting shop customers have had to put up with another distraction. A petition organised by the Association of British Bookmakers appeared overnight in shops across the country, and many shop managers – no doubt suspecting that their area manager will be totting up numbers and reporting back to head office – have been actively encouraging their customers to sign.

The petition, headed "Enough's Enough", squeezes an impressive mixture of fantasy, paranoia and half-truth into its 205 words. For one thing, it does not actually mention Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. Instead, it includes a claim, without any detail on substance or timing, or evidence to back it up, that "recent Government announcements have put more than 10,000 jobs and 2,300 shops at immediate risk".

There is mention too of a punter's "right to have a bet", though strangely this basic freedom does not seem to appear in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Which is a pity, because if it did, the right to have a decent bet accepted at the advertised price without restriction might be in there as well.

But the laager mentality which now grips the high-street gamblingindustry on the FOBT issue is perhaps best summed up by this sentence: "As long as our customers gamble responsibly," the petition says, "we [the ABB] believe you should be free to enjoy your leisure time as you choose without being demonised."

Since when has anyone been demonising the punters? It is the gaming machines and the businesses which use them to extract easy, risk-free cash from local communities, often those that can least afford it, that are loathed and despised. The politicians and civil servants who between them decided to replace the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act with a one-size-fits-all Gambling Act should be ashamed of themselves too. It was this gross stupidity which allowed roulette out of the casino and on to the high street in the first place. Punters being demonised? Are they serious?

In a sense, the ABB's petition is encouraging, since it suggests that eight years mainlining easy cash has addled their brains. They do not seem able to understand the opposition to their move from traditional betting into hard gaming, never mind mount any credible defence. They were delighted to sow the wind when the politicians handed them a licence to print money. Now here comes the twister. This has the potential to be a moment of weakness which racing could exploit to the full.

The sport has been insisting it wants a commercial replacement for the statutory Levy system pretty much since the Levy arrived in the 1960s. Under such a system, the bookmakers would not be partners, but the hired help that processes the income from betting and takes a commission for doing so.

Severe restriction of the stakes on FOBTs or, better still, banishing roulette back to the casinos altogether would focus the minds of both CEOs and shareholders on getting their slice of the action from of the best betting medium ever devised. That would bring the significant and growing revenue from offshore betting, which is beyond the reach of the Levy, into play.

Sadly Paul Bittar, the British Horseracing Authority's chief executive, seems to have studied the landscape and the gambling industry's circled wagons, and decided that inside firing out is the best place to be. It would be in the better long-term interests of both the racing and bookmaking industries if Bittar and the BHA remained outside, offering instead a possible route towards an honourable surrender.

Aidan O'Brien's Australia tantalises as Flat season jumps into unknown

2,000 Guineas hope Toormore with Richard Hannon, the trainer who could have the whip hand over Aidan O'Brien in 2014. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

From Sandown via Punchestown to Newmarket and Chester, the transition from jumping to the Flat over the next two weeks will be all but seamless. There are no fewer than 12 Grade One National Hunt contests at Punchestown's festival meeting between Tuesday and Saturday, when the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket will be the first Group One of the British Flat season, and it can be difficult to stop and reflect when there is always so much to anticipate.

The 2013-2014 jumps campaign did not leave a long sequence of images etched on the memory as some have done in recent years, though the afternoon at Towcester in early November when Tony McCoy rode the 4,000th winner of his career stands out as a moment when racing, and a fair proportion of the general public too, paused to appreciate one of the truly extraordinary sporting careers.

Nor could it have had a more emblematic horse of the year than Sire De Grugy, who received the majority of votes in an online poll conducted by the Racing Post to beat a field which included Quevega, who beat Golden Miller's record of five straight wins at the Festival when she took the Mares' Hurdle for the sixth year in a row.

Sire De Grugy had a Zelig-like ability to be there at the season's pivotal moments. First, he emerged as the winner when Sprinter Sacre pulled up on his first, and as it turned out only, start of the season at Kempton on 27 December. Then, 24 hours after the death of Our Conor in the Champion Hurdle had cast a long shadow over the first day at Cheltenham, his victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase was one that everyone could celebrate. The weighing room cleared to acknowledge Jamie Moore's first Festival winner, and the mood of the entire meeting was changed in an instant.

Sire De Grugy's victory in Saturday's Celebration Chase at Sandown was his fourth Grade One in a season which seemed to promise little more than a string of second places behind Sprinter Sacre at its outset. Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson dominated the trainers' championship, while Willie Mullins made it a three-cornered fight at the festivals, but Sire De Grugy and Pineau De Re, who took the Grand National for Dr Richard Newland's tiny 12-horse yard, were the sort of horses and stories that fire the enthusiasm of many National Hunt fans in the first place.

Flat racing, meanwhile, now offers the prospect of four Classics and Royal Ascot in the space of eight weeks. Technically, of course, the 2014 turf season is already more than a month old, with both the Craven and Greenham meetings in the book, but it is Guineas weekend, rather than the Craven, which feels ever more like the point at which the campaign really starts.

The 2,000 Guineas in particular looks like an outstanding and fascinating renewal, both in terms of its horses and its people. Kingman, Kingston Hill and Toormore are all unbeaten, while Australia – by a Derby winner out of an Oaks winner – has, like a fair few before him, been described by Aidan O'Brien as possibly the best he has trained.

A personal view is that Australia is the key horse in the field, because he is priced on a mixture of hope and hype with surprisingly little in the book to back it up, and that seems to feed into other markets too. He might be a better horse than Galileo, George Washington, High Chaparral and company, but he still has a huge amount to prove.

O'Brien won the first four Classics in 2012 but still could not beat John Gosden – who saddled two Group One winners all season – to the trainers' championship. Yet he is joint-favourite for the title with Richard Hannon, who has taken over from his father Richard Hannon Sr, the champion in three of the last four seasons.

With the strings in the major yards increasing all the time, it becomes ever more difficult even for a trainer of O'Brien's immense talent to take the title with just a handful of Group winners. Hannon sends Toormore to the Guineas with a live chance and has several top-class older horses plus, above all, a weight of numbers that no other yard can match. He remains odds-against at 11-8 for the trainers' title, a bet that can provide a regular interest throughout the season with every prospect of a payout at the end.

Ryan Moore, meanwhile, also looks big at evens in what is surely a two-runner race with Richard Hughes for the jockeys' title. Hughes was less than 20 winners clear last time around and his injury in Dubai has given Moore a head-start of similar proportions this time. Moore is riding as reliably and impeccably as ever, and also makes plenty of appeal at the prices to finish the Flat season as champion once again

Miss France wins 1,000 Guineas but Kieren Fallon steals Derby spotlight

Miss France and Maxime Guyon, in pale blue sleeves, winning the Qipco 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Photograph: Matthew Webb/Rex

André Fabre completed the set of English Classics on the Rowley Mile here on Sunday as Miss France took the 1,000 Guineas ahead of Lightning Thunder and Ihtimal, but it was Kieren Fallon who emerged from Guineas weekend as the biggest winner, and with another high-profile engagement to anticipate as the Flat season moves on towards Epsom.

Fallon, who won the 2,000 Guineas on Night Of Thunder on Saturday took a minor race on Elite Gardens for Godolphin's Saeed bin Suroor, and the trainer later confirmed that Fallon will take over from Silvestre de Sousa on True Story, a live contender for the Derby, when he runs in the Dante Stakes at York next week.

"Kieren is one of the best jockeys," Suroor said after Elite Gardens' victory. "I'm happy to give him a chance in all the big races. He rode True Story today on the gallops and he gave me good information. He's going to ride him in the Dante."

De Sousa has been Suroor's principal jockey since Frankie Dettori lost his job as Godolphin's No1 rider in the autumn of 2012, and he rode the trainer's African Story to win the Dubai World Cup, the world's richest race, in March. He also rode True Story to an impressive success in the Fielden Stakes at Newmarket's Craven meeting in April, but the news that Fallon will replace him in the Dante suggests that Godolphin are already thinking two steps ahead to Epsom, and want to secure a jockey whose record at the demanding downland track is second to none.

It also suggests that De Sousa can no longer be sure of the ride on Suroor's main contender for a major race. While Godolphin has adopted a loose structure with regard to riding arrangements since Dettori's departure, with no overall No1 jockey, Fallon has quickly become a significant part of Suroor's operation and now seems to be the rider among the Godolphin team whose star is on the ascendant.

Fallon has won the Derby four times, and has talked in the past of an affinity he feels for the track as similar to that of Dettori's love for Ascot. The likelihood that he will be aboard True Story at Epsom to attract the attention of punters.

Miss France, an impressive winner of the Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket last season, was the winter favourite for the 1,000 Guineas but could finish only sixth on her seasonal debut last month. Sent off at 7-1 on Sunday, she appreciated a stronger pace in the Classic and took the lead about a furlong out under Maxime Guyon before holding the late charge of Lightning Thunder by a neck. Ihtimal, trained by Suroor and ridden by De Sousa, was third.

"It was the exact opposite of the way I wanted [her to] be ridden, but it worked," Fabre said. "[Her seasonal debut] was not a race, anything but a race. I was waiting for her morning work [afterwards] and I got very confident when she worked very well in the morning. She will go further, it's not a problem and she will go for the Prix de Diane [French Oaks]."

Asked whether he was pleased to have completed a full set of all five English Classics, Fabre said: "It doesn't mean anything, it's just another racing day. I'm just happy and it's a solved problem."

A significant contender for the Oaks at Epsom in early June emerged in the Pretty Polly Stakes as Taghrooda, already prominent in the ante-post betting following her maiden success here last season, stormed six lengths clear of her field and is now top-priced at 3-1 for the Classic on 6 June.

"She wants a mile and a half now," John Gosden said, and Taghrooda will go straight to Epsom. "We can always take her to Epsom and have a look around as they have an open day," Gosden added, "and her father [Sea The Stars] got around there no problem."

Rafael Nadal's Barcelona Open winning streak ended by Nicolás Almagro

Rafael Nadal's quarter-final defeat to Nicolás Almagro was his first Barcelona Open loss since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003. Photograph: Fotopress/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal's clay-court struggles worsened on Friday as his 41-match winning streak at the Barcelona Open ended with a three-set loss to Nicolás Almagro in the quarter-finals.

Nadal was looking for his ninth title in Barcelona but lost 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 a week after going out in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters to David Ferrer. Nadal, widely considered the greatest clay-court player of all time, had not lost in the tournament since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003, although he did not play in 2010. He had not dropped a set in Barcelona since the 2008 final.

The 20th-ranked Almagro converted his second match point, smashing a forehand down the line for his first career victory over his fellow Spaniard at the 11th attempt. "I had a lot of opportunities in the second set," Nadal said. "I didn't take advantage of break points, so credit goes to him."

After failing to convert any of his five break points in the second set, Nadal missed a return in the tiebreak to give Almagro a 6-5 lead. Almagro followed up with a crosscourt forehand winner to level the match and end Nadal's run of 44 straight sets at the tournament.

Both players were steady on serve until an exchange of breaks made it 4-4 in the third, and Nadal then sent a shot long to be broken again and give Almagro a chance to serve for the match. Nadal set up two straight chances to break back, but hit a forehand long and then sent a smash into the net with Almagro out of position.

Nadal then saved the first match point when Almagro's backhand flew wide. But the underdog used a serve-and-volley to save a third break point of the game before Nadal's long return set up the second match point.

Nadal had not been eliminated this early in back-to-back clay-court tournaments since 2004, when as an 18-year-old he also failed to get past the quarter-finals in Stuttgart and Bastad.

"This is an important win for my career," said Almagro, who celebrated wildly. He will face Santiago Giraldo in Saturday's semi-final after Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with an injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3.

Earlier, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to set up a meeting in the other semi-final. The fourth-seeded Nishikori continued his good run since returning from a groin injury with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia, while the ninth-seeded Gulbis dismissed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis saved all five break points against Gabashvili, who had knocked out the fifth-ranked Ferrer.

Andy Murray's Wimbledon seeding will not be harmed by world ranking drop

Andy Murray has slipped to No8 in the world rankings as he prepares to defend his Wimbledon title. Photograph: Hugo Avila/AP

Andy Murray will be seeded significantly higher than his world ranking of eight when he defends his Wimbledon title, tournament organisers have confirmed.

The Scot has slipped down the ATP rankings, largely as a result of back surgery that has kept him from competing, since becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years last July. But the All England Club chairman, Philip Brook, said Wimbledon's seeding system would continue to take into account previous performances on grass and would therefore benefit Murray.

Points are added for achievements in grasscourt tournaments in the past 12 months, with extra points awarded for their best performance in the previous year.

"For Andy Murray, as the winner of Queen's last year and the winner here last year, and a finalist here in 2012, there will be a significant impact on him," Brook said. He added that the seeding system would also have "significant" positive impact on the seven-times champion Roger Federer and last year's beaten finalist, Novak Djokovic.

Link to video: Wimbledon prize money increased to £25m by All England Lawn Tennis Club

The quirks of the Wimbledon seeding system should conspire to save Murray from a difficult draw that could have undermined his chances of retaining his title. At its annual spring press conference to preview the coming championships, Brook said that overall prize fund would increase 10.8% on last year to a total of £25m. The increase is marginally weighted towards those that go out in the early rounds, which Brook said was a recognition of those who needed the extra income most.

The additional prize money for first- round losers, who will now receive £27,000, means that they have received an increase of 135% over the past three years. The All England Club's chief executive, Richard Lewis, denied that the increased payments rewarded failure.

"They have worked hard to get here for 12 months either through their world ranking or through qualifying. Being in a main draw of a grand slam means they are world-class players," he said. "The costs and expenses involved in being a top-100 player are huge and while they are not pleading poverty they are not making huge sums of money for world-class athletes."

The men's and women's singles champions will receive £1.76m each, an increase of 10% on 2013 and an overall rise of 60% over three years.

Brook confirmed that plans to revamp the grounds, partly funded by a new £100m Centre Court debenture scheme, were on track. Courts 14 and 15 will be out of action this year due to continuing work to create new facilities beneath them. He said the new roof on No1 court, due to be finished by 2019, would be based on the design of the Centre Court roof introduced five years ago and that the redesign would increase capacity by 900.

Brook also unveiled a string of new international broadcast deals and a revamped mobile phone app, claiming that the appeal of the tournament around the world continued to grow.

The AELTC said it had not yet received any approach for a wild card from Marion Bartoli, last year's women's champion who retired in August, amid persistent speculation she may return. "The rumours in France have not reached London yet, so we'll wait and see," said Brook.

Nick Kyrgios wins second title in a fortnight

Nick Kyrgios won his previous event, at the Sarasota Challenger. Photograph: Mal Faircough/AFP/Getty Images

Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios celebrated his 19th birthday with a tournament win on the ATP's Challenger tour, his second title in as many weeks.

Kyrgios defeated American Jack Sock 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Sunday to lift the trophy at the event in Savannah, Georgia.

It was his second straight tournament victory on American green clay following his triumph at the Sarasota Challenger in Florida the previous week, and takes his winning streak to 10 matches.

"Awesome couple of weeks, nice rewards for the whole team and our hard work. Couldnt have asked for much more. Nice Bday pressie too!!," he tweeted after the match.

He also said that he had picked up a slight adductor strain in the win over Sock, but hopes to be fit for the next Challenger tournament in Florida next week.

US Open course proves Rory McIlroy is right to worry about golf's direction

Rory McIlroy has voiced concerns over the number of young players taking up golf. Photograph: Wilfredo Lee/AP

Rory McIlroy's pre-Masters assertion that participation in golf has dropped by 13% was understandably lost in the subsequent tournament melee. Apart from anything else, McIlroy's comment lacked context; where, since when, among whom?

But the Northern Irishman had struck upon an important issue. It is now generally recognised that recreational golfers are playing more than ever but encouraging youngsters to take up the game in the first place has never been tougher. Golf's return to the Olympics, it is hoped, will provide a positive legacy in the latter regard.

However, a glance at the setup of Pinehurst's No2 course for the upcoming US Open hardly augurs well. At par 70, the venue is more than 7,500 yards long. There are four par-four holes in excess of 500 yards. Three par threes measure more than 200 yards. Leading amateur players would be entitled to say "no thanks" to such a golfing slog; professionals will of course turn up because of the stature of the competition. Stand by, though, for sniping.

Players who miss the Pinehurst fairways will find their ball in scrappy, sandy, weeded areas. Approach shots? They'll be hit into treacherous, upturned saucer greens. Put all of this together and you have attritional – routinely dull – golf, the like of which preceded Justin Rose's victory in last year's US Open at an aggregate of one over par. Merion provided a brutal, borderline unfair, challenge.

Nothing should be taken away from Rose's triumph, which was terrific in itself. However, too many high-profile events are being turned into the sort of grind which will hardly prove appealing to would-be golfers.

Early indications, unfortunately, suggest the 114th US Open will follow suit. It promises to be engaging, but lacking in that wow factor which boosts participation in the sport.

Pinehurst at 7,214 yards was hardly a stroll in the park for the 2005 US Open. The halfway cut fell at plus nine. After four rounds, no player had broken par.

Amid paranoia by tournament organisers about players shooting rounds of 62, excitement is being drained from championships. There were even glimpses of such at the Masters; for all of Bubba Watson's brilliance, Augusta National's iconic back nine didn't produce anything like the thrills and spills of previous years. And these are the world's top professionals; what chance for run-of-the-mill amateurs if clubs decide these formats are valid?

McIlroy clearly has a legitimate concern about golf's direction, away from the professional level where cash rewards have never been better. Offering more chances for blue-chip players such as McIlroy to thrill rather than fret over the consequences of tiny errors would have a bigger impact than some people seem willing to recognise.

So when will Donald Trump preside over his first Open Championship?

That is the burning question after confirmation arrived that the billionaire has completed his purchase of Turnberry after months of speculation. Those perturbed by Trump's arrival should bear three things in mind; this is simply a business swapping hands from Dubai to the United States, and the new owner has an impressive track record for spending big on the sport at a time when few others will do likewise. Trump also represents the polar opposite of golf's crusty, oft-criticised membership culture.

Peter Dawson, the Royal & Ancient's chief executive, chuckles when recalling his early exchanges with Trump. The businessman insisted back then that he would seek to host an Open at his purpose-built Aberdeenshire resort. Dawson duly explained the complexities and formalities associated with such a scenario; Trump marched over to inform waiting media that his Open dream was very much alive.

A few years later, it's reality but at an alternative venue. Turnberry spent years in the Open wilderness amid concerns about infrastructure around the Ayrshire course. Those worries weren't entirely placated at or after it hosted the third major of the year in 2009. Historically, Turnberry Open crowds are at the low end of the scale. The fact a 59-year-old Tom Watson came within a whisker of winning five years ago, albeit a terrific story, raised questions about Turnberry's strength.

Still, the outgoing Dawson is adamant that Turnberry remains part of the Open rota. Venues have been announced up to and including 2016, with the 2017 host course due to be named imminently. After successive years in Scotland, Royal Birkdale appears the favourite. Thereafter, an inevitably revamped Turnberry resort has a live chance. And one fuelled, suffice to say, by plenty of campaigning from its' owner.

Anthony Kim: gone as fast as he arrived?

This weekend's Wells Fargo Championship marks the second anniversary of Anthony Kim's last appearance on the PGA Tour. Even then, Kim withdrew after just 18 holes.

Kim is in danger of becoming a forgotten man, which is a terrible shame given his undeniable level of talent. When people do speak about him, it is commonly in reference to a party boy lifestyle rather than a Ryder Cup appearance and rapid arrival on to the professional scene.

Between 2008 and 2010, Kim won three times in the United States. He has subsequently picked up injuries but apparently lost interest in the game he was once a rising star in.

Ominous words appeared this week from the golfer's agent, in an interview with the Golf Channel's John Hawkins. In short, even Kim's representative has no clue as to when the 28-year-old will return to tournament action. He isn't even playing golf for fun. It is getting harder and harder to foresee a comeback.