A sure thing: how Australia’s love of gambling keeps horse racing alive

Despite the animal abuse scandal, plenty of punters still love a bet and the media loves the money that pours in from the industryThe Melbourne Cup is “in every sense a sacred occasion, unique to the Western world,” a commentator in the Australian wrote on Monday, the day before the big race. The Daily Telegraph printed a 28-page lift-out but it was the Herald Sun, being the tabloid in the hometown of the Melbourne Cup, which devoted the most space in the lead up to the cup: 39 pages