[AusRace] Eddie Hayson

[L.B.Loveday]

The Age ordered to pay professional gambler Eddie Hayson $50,000 in
defamation dispute


 <https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/4f07c1448c0175787fd05986674105fa> The
Age has been ordered to pay professional gambler Eddie Hayson, centre,
$50,000 over a defamatory article. Picture: Jane Dempster


*         Tessa Akerman
<https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Tessa+Akerman> 


Reporter

@TessaAkerman <http://twitter.com/TessaAkerman> 



*	5:20PM March 19, 2020

The Age has been ordered to pay colourful Sydney sporting identity Eddie
Hayson $50,000 over a defamatory article written by Kate McClymont claiming
he was involved in match-fixing.

Justice Robert Bromwich said The Age article dealt with allegations of
match-fixing in certain games in the National Rugby League competition, Mr
Hayson being banned from betting at the TAB and associated allegations.

Hayson took legal action in the Federal Court regarding the June 2016
article in The Age, which followed a similar article in The Sydney Morning
Herald.

"I readily infer that no real attempt was made by Ms McClymont to check or
verify the story that was published, or to give Mr Hayson any real
opportunity to comment, when it relied upon (Con Ange) a person with a known
personal animus towards him," Justice Bromwich

said in his judgement published Thursday.

During the legal proceedings, The Age conceded claims involving match-fixing
and placing a bet on the game were defamatory.

However the newspaper sought to mitigate damages on grounds of Mr Hayson's
"bad reputation" in sporting and gaming communities, including by way of
conventional insider trading in sports-related gambling.

Justice Bromwich said Mr Hayson admitted in court to having knowingly
entered Star Casino gaming areas in breach of exclusion areas, falsely
stating the order had been overturned.

"The better explanation is that Mr Hayson did not think that this mattered
very much, which is not to his credit either," Justice Bromwich said.

"This is evidence of Mr Hayson's willingness to lie when it is to his
advantage . It indicates a determination to do as he pleases, and to lie
about it if that is necessary to get what he wants."

Justice Bromwich said there was a great difference between lying to a duty
manager at a casino and lying on oath in court.

"Nonetheless, Mr Hayson's attitude towards legal obligations and to telling
the truth when that was an impediment to getting what he wanted caused me to
scrutinise his evidence more closely, and to be less willing to take what he
said at face value," he said.

He said the admission that Mr Hayson placed a substantial bet on Auckland to
beat Newcastle in an NRL game, knowing key Newcastle player Andrew Johns
would withdraw from the match due to a neck injury was not "perfectly
honest", as characterised by Mr Hayson.

"Insider trading in sports-related gambling is inherently dishonest,"
Justice Bromwich said.

The court also heard Mr Hayson manipulated odds by placing bets on
greyhounds that were not the favourite, in order to better the odds on the
favourite over which he had already placed a substantial bet, in the moments
prior to a race.

"I agree that, while this may not have been illegal, it was at least of
questionable morality and was not honest behaviour, which goes to Mr
Hayson's credibility," Justice Bromwich said.

Mr Hayson gave evidence that people who fix matches are "the lowest form of
life to ever exist".

Justice Bromwich said insider trading and match-fixing were both forms of
cheating and should go together.

"The reputation for insider trading serves to diminish his reputation in the
sector, and thereby reduce, the damaging effect of The Age article because
of his already tarnished reputation," he said.

Justice Bromwich ordered The Age to pay $50,000 and will hear arguments on
costs.

 

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