8 NT NEWS. Tuesday, July 30, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au PUB: NT NEWS DATE: 30-JUL-2013 PAGE: 8 COLOR: C M Y K NEWS l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l ntnews.com.au Coal baron sued for bets in NT court By ANDREW CARSWELL and AMY SPEAR NATHAN Tinkler — fallen coal baron, one-time billion- aire . . . and a desperately unlucky punter. At the height of his wealth and power, the embattled businessman (pictured) was sinking up to $200,000 a bet on horse races during a roller-coaster two-year los- ing spree that yielded very few winners and left him with a debt he was unwilling to pay. In explosive court docu- ments obtained by the NT News, Mr Tinkler’s elusive search for a winner is laid bare, with the punter often splurging upwards of half a million dollars a month with betting agency Luxbet, predominantly backing his own horses — and predom- inantly losing. The failure to pay sub- sequent debts prompted Lux- bet to sue Mr Tinkler in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in January this year, chasing unpaid debts totall- ing $179,200. While the betting records show extensive losses — in- cluding a spectacular 33-bet losing streak over a horror three weeks in February 2011 where he flushed $260,000 down the toilet — they also show a handful of big days out on the punt. At his local Newcastle track on March 17, 2011, Mr Tinkler ban- ked a cool $187,000 by backing his own horses Honourable Aussie (two bets worth $15,000 at 7/1) and Bare Bear (two bets worth $10,000 at 8/1), while he loaded up with a $110,000 bet on his Adul- terer at Moonee Valley on December 3, 2010 at tight odds for a payday of $366,000. However, those wins were few and far between for the renowned punter, who pre- ferred to bet off-course. Another two-week barren spell in April 2011 cost Mr Tinkler $174,000, while he put a staggering $200,000 on the table in backing his Patinack Farm-owned Metal- lurgical at Randwick on Dec- ember 11, 2009. It finished second, and he blew the lot. It wasn’t just horse racing that vied for his attention. He lost $25,000 backing Newcastle to beat the New Zealand Warriors in an NRL match on August 13, 2011, while on the same day kiss- ing goodbye to tens of thou- sands of dollars chasing wins at multiple venues. The court documents show Mr Tinkler was granted a credit betting facility with Luxbet of $250,000 on Febru- ary 9, 2009, which was in- creased to $500,000 on May 21, 2010 and eventually de- creased to $100,000 on July 26, 2012 as his losses mounted. ‘‘From 9 February 2009 and until the date of filing this statement, the defendant has made payments totalling $864,953 on six separate oc- casions against his betting facility,’’ the documents read. ‘‘On the settlement date of March 28 2011, the de- fendant owed to the plaintiff the amount of $179,200. The plaintiff has made numerous requests of the defendant for the amount owed.’’ A report that aired on ABC’s Four Corners last night alleges Mr Tinkler and some of his 120 listed com- panies in Australia and Sing- apore have been involved in more than 50 court actions, sued by creditors, busi- nesses and bookies. Man charged after alleged sexual attack A MAN who allegedly as- saulted and raped a woman, causing her to lose a ‘‘sub- stantial amount of blood’’, faced Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday. The man, 41, was charged with sexual intercourse without consent, aggra- vated assault causing serious harm and aggra- vated assault. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Janelle Tonkin said police were called to Knuckey Camp, off Vander- lin Drive, in Berrimah, just before 2am on Friday and found the injured 31-year- old victim at the camp. ‘‘St John Ambulance staff stabilised the victim before transporting her to Royal Darwin Hospital,’’ she said. ‘‘The alleged offender . . . was found about an hour later hiding in the bush around the camp.’’ The alleged offender has been remanded in custody and will appear in court again via video link on September 23. NT Jeepers founder Andy Sawka, left, and Ray De Koster are passionate about their Jeeps Picture: DANIEL HARTLEY-ALLEN Jeepers, they love their cars By XAVIER LA CANNA ANDY Sawka knows all about Jeep thrills. As the founder of a new club in Darwin for people passionate about Jeeps, Mr Sawka wants to hear from anyone who shares his love of the off-road vehicles. ‘‘I think they are a good unique vehicle and they are the most accessorised ve- hicle in the world,’’ he said. ‘‘You can get more bolt-on parts for a Jeep than for any other car.’’ Every other state and terr- itory in Australia has a Jeep club, but until the start of this year the Northern Terr- itory was missing out. Known as the NT Jeepers the small group of enthusi- asts now meets up and oc- casionally goes out on road trips to places such as the Adelaide River or Litchfield National Park. ‘‘Anyone passionate about that four-letter word Jeep is welcome,’’ Mr Sawka says. The first Jeeps rolled off the production line in 1941, making them the world’s ol- dest off-road vehicle. If people want to reach the club they can check out the NT Jeepers Facebook page and shoot them a message. Scene from sci-fi flick coming soon to your own smartphone The billboards use facial rec- ognition software as seen in the movie, Minority Report By JOHN ROLFE ADS will soon target people as they walk past stores they’ve bought from before — just like in the futuristic Tom Cruise blockbuster, Minority Report. ‘‘That was not a pipe dream,’’ said Sam Yip, senior researcher at Telsyte, which analyses how technology affects consumption. In the 2002 sci-fi flick, set 40 years from now, billboards deliver personalised pitches to would-be customers after scanning their eyeballs. However, director Steven Spielberg could not have known how the world would fall for smartphones — and the opportunity they would create for advertisers. Already internet search engines such as Google serve us ads based on our browsing history. And now, Mr Yip said, the race is on to perfect technology that would allow ‘‘real-time push deals’’ via our smartphones. It wouldn’t be long before Hollywood fiction became fact, he said. Mr Yip made the predic- tion in response to the world’s largest discount vou- cher site, Groupon, introduc- ing into Australia a new service driven by a sophisti- cated computer algorithm that tailors each customer’s list of ‘‘daily deals’’ based on buying history, personal characteristics and location. The algorithm is ‘‘like a living thing’’, said Groupon Australia CEO Alistair Venn. Over time it will get ‘‘smarter and smarter’’, Mr Venn said, as it learns more about the likes and dislikes of each customer. ‘‘We want people to wake up in the morning and look at their email and say, ‘How did Groupon know I wanted to buy that?’,’’ Mr Venn said. But Telsyte’s Mr Yip said: ‘‘The consumer won’t actu- ally know they are getting targeted deals.’’ Mr Venn denied the serv- ice was ‘‘Big Brother-ish’’.