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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-AU link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h1>The Age ordered to pay professional gambler Eddie Hayson $50,000 in defamation dispute<o:p></o:p></h1><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/4f07c1448c0175787fd05986674105fa"><span style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=650 height=365 style='width:6.7708in;height:3.802in' id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D5FE9C.6AA61440" alt="The Age has been ordered to pay professional gambler Eddie Hayson, centre, $50,000 over a defamatory article. Picture: Jane Dempster"></span></a>The Age has been ordered to pay professional gambler Eddie Hayson, centre, $50,000 over a defamatory article. Picture: Jane Dempster<o:p></o:p></p><h2 style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;font-weight:normal'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Tessa+Akerman">Tessa Akerman</a><o:p></o:p></h2><p class=story-infobyline style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Reporter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=story-infobyline style='margin-left:36.0pt'><a href="http://twitter.com/TessaAkerman" target="_blank">@TessaAkerman</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=story-infobyline style='margin-left:36.0pt'><img border=0 width=1 height=1 style='width:.0104in;height:.0104in' id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.png@01D5FE9C.6AA61440"><o:p></o:p></p><ul type=disc><li class=story-infotimestamp style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>5:20PM March 19, 2020<o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable> “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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>said in his judgement published Thursday.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>During the legal proceedings, The Age conceded claims involving match-fixing and placing a bet on the game were defamatory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>Justice Bromwich said there was a great difference between lying to a duty manager at a casino and lying on oath in court.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“Insider trading in sports-related gambling is inherently dishonest,” Justice Bromwich said.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>Mr Hayson gave evidence that people who fix matches are “the lowest form of life to ever exist”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>Justice Bromwich said insider trading and match-fixing were both forms of cheating and should go together.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>“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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=selectionshareable>Justice Bromwich ordered The Age to pay $50,000 and will hear arguments on costs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>