Hayson used Nikolic partner TAB account

Gambling figure Eddie Hayson apologised after using the TAB account of jockey Danny Nikolic’s partner to place a bet, a court has heard.

Nikolic denies placing bets for his friend on three NRL matches that are being investigated by NSW police.

Nikolic said Hayson recently used the phone betting account of the jockey’s partner Tania Hyett to bet, after he gave his friend the PIN.

But he denied Racing Victoria barrister Jeff Gleeson QC’s suggestion that Hayson did that to disguise his betting.

“That’s not true at all,” Nikolic told his appeal to regain his jockey licence.

“When I asked him was it him, he said yes it was and apologised.”

Nikolic said Hayson told him he ran out of cash and decided to use the $9000 or $10,000 he put in Hyett’s account the previous day as repayment of money he owed the jockey.

Nikolic agreed Hayson apologised because he used Hyett’s TAB account when he was not authorised to do so.

“That’s the only time I’ve ever known him to have a bet using that account,” he told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday.

Nikolic said Hayson had put cash he owed the jockey into Hyett’s TAB account on other occasions when banks were closed.

Hayson has denied any involvement in NRL match fixing.

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Nikolic said he knew nothing about a successful $18,000 wager on the Parramatta Eels beating the Manly Sea Eagles by more than five points in April.

Gleeson also asked Nikolic about a media report that Hayson admitted transferring $100,000 to the jockey to bet on a 2015 match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly on his behalf.

Nikolic said that was not true and also denied adding $20,000 of his own money to the wager.

Nikolic said the former Sydney brothel owner, his friend of 12-15 years, had asked him about two matches under scrutiny.

“He asked me if I had a bet on a Parramatta-Manly game and he also asked if me if I had a bet on, I believe it was, on a Manly-Rabbitohs game and I said no I didn’t believe I did.”

VCAT heard Nikolic is listed as a director on a company set up by Hayson.

Nikolic’s barrister Julian Burnside QC said there was no evidence his client was aware of that.

Nikolic has also said he never lived at the Manly address listed on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents.

Racing Victoria failed to get access to Nikolic’s financial records.

Nikolic does not have his own TAB account and uses Hyett’s account to bet on the AFL, NRL and tennis or pays cash in a TAB outlet.

He said he had no idea of his gambling turnover but it was possible it totalled hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2015.

Nikolic said he would be “down” overall, guessing it could be in the order of $50-70,000 a year.