In the last four or five years, the Melbourne Storm dominated Rugby League and were branded the best club in the world playing in the last four NRL Gran Final, winning two of them in 2007 and 2009 with a squad including superstars Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith or Cooper Cronk.
However, this performance was not fair and square. Indeed on April 22, they have been found guilty of a huge salary cap breach. Over the last five years, they have overpaid the players by AU$1.7m (£1m).
As a result, they were stripped off their two NRL Premiership and three minor championships. Also, they are not allowed to earn any points for the remaining of the 2010 season which mean they will take out the NRL wooden spoon.
But what was a sport scandal became a betting scandal when bets from all over the country came on the Storm finishing last of the 2010 NRL season the night before. While the Storm were large favourite with the Dragons and the Eels to win the 2010 Gran Final, Sportingbet took three bets on Storm earning wooden spoon worth of AU$10,000 (£6,000) each.
"You don't take a series of bets like that unless someone knows something," said Sportingbet Australia spokesman Bill Richmond.
The information about the salary cap breach had leaked and betting companies were left in frenzy trying to re-frame the 2010 NRL Premiership betting markets. Most of the betting companies have shut down their wooden spoon market and are now set to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds and pay-outs.
Some, like Sportingbet Australia and Centrebet, will refund all bets placed on Melbourne to win the premiership while others like TABSportsbet will honour all bets placed on the Storm finishing last.
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