You've got to laugh

I've just spent two days at a Betfair senior management offsite, which included - among lengthy strategy chat and discussions about how we can keep improving employee engagement - a brief discussion on how long it might take for mobile to pass the internet as a channel.

There was some irony, therefore, to learn (as I caught up on the last day's news) that Racing New South Wales, while deciding to allow punters to place bets via the internet while at the racecourse , has decided to introduce the following complex rules in the process: prospective online punters must first apply for authorisation from Racing NSW to carry a laptop computer on-course, which will be subject to an annual monitoring fee; and that laptop must then be dedicated for that purpose, and cannot be used for anything else, anywhere else.

Come again?