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Bookies use student runners to target underage bettors
By Maureen Koh
June 19, 2010
Illegal betting on the World Cup games has invaded some school grounds, it seems.
Bookmakers are not only targeting students who are too young to bet legally, but have also recruited students from junior colleges and polytechnics to be their runners.
The runners' task is simple: Approach their schoolmates to bet on the matches and collect their bets in return for a cut – believed to be 3 to 5 per cent.
And if a straw poll done by The New Paper is any indication, most students are placing bets.
And putting down big bucks too. One student-runner claimed he could easily collect $25,000 worth of bets in a night.
This means that, even if his cut is only 3 per cent, he picks up $750 a night.
While most students are "fresh faces", some are debtors turned runners.
Three bookies The New Paper chanced upon at different coffee shops admitted that they are targeting students who are too young to place bets legally with Singapore Pools.
One must be at least 18 to bet at the outlets and at least 21 to open a PoolzConnect World Cup Account.
