The NRL’s top referee Ashley Klein was allowed to officiate in the code’s biggest games despite having had a gambling problem that cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An investigation by the Herald can reveal the NRL knew of Klein’s gambling issues for four years but let him continue to referee matches at the top level.
The experienced whistle blower is the highest profile match official in rugby league and is due to referee next week’s second State of Origin match in Melbourne, his 14th interstate clash in a row.
But away from the bright lights of packed stadiums, it can be revealed Klein had a gambling habit that became the subject of an NRL investigation.
According to sources with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, he lost more than $400,000 punting on horse racing and greyhound racing with corporate bookmakers before closing his accounts and placing himself on BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, in 2023.
The NRL said on Friday that Klein’s betting had come to its attention seven years ago.
“The NRL first became aware of this matter in 2019, at which time it was investigated to the satisfaction of NRL management at the time,” an NRL spokesperson said.
“The NRL subsequently took appropriate steps to ensure there were no breaches of NRL rules and policies. At no stage has Ashley Klein’s position as an NRL match official been impacted. The NRL takes proactive steps as a matter of course to provide education relating to rules and policy. Given this is an employment matter it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
Satisfied he was not breaching any rules, the NRL did not stand Klein down or take him out of frontline refereeing for any period of time.
It is understood Klein was spoken to by the NRL about gambling since the issue first came to light and he told them he had got it under control.
In a statement, Klein said: “Many years ago I developed a problem with gambling on horse racing and greyhound racing. This gambling was not related to any betting on Rugby League, and my job as a referee has never been impacted. I received help to deal with the problem and closed all associated betting accounts. This was a difficult period of my life but one which did not in any way influence my job as a match official.”
There is no suggestion Klein has ever acted inappropriately while officiating or breached any NRL regulations. Referees, who earn more than $330,000 a year, are forbidden from betting on rugby league but, like players, coaches, administrators and other participants, they are free to wager on other sports including racing.
Given referees’ role as the on-field authority and their ability to influence games and outcomes within them, though, the emergence of Klein’s past gambling raises questions about the steps the NRL took before clearing him to continue at the highest level and about the measures in place to mitigate integrity risks.
Sports integrity figures warned that players with serious gambling troubles left themselves open to coercion, but referees were on another level.
Dr Catherine Ordway, an expert on sports integrity and a visiting scholar at University of NSW in Canberra, said a referee with a gambling problem was “definitely a vulnerability”.
“We’re increasingly seeing players and officials being exploited by organised criminals when they have vulnerabilities,” she said.
“In a team sport environment, the referees and umpires have the biggest levers to influence not even just the outcome of the game but the micro-elements of the game that can be bet on.”
She said her preference would be for referees to be banned from betting on any sport, not just their own, including racing.
Klein has refereed every State of Origin game since 2022 and will extend that run at the MCG next Wednesday after overseeing NSW’s thrilling come-from-behind victory at Accor Stadium last month.
The 46-year-old sent off Queensland fullback Kalyn Ponga for a shoulder-charge on NSW winger Tolutau Koula in that clash in what proved to be a match-turning decision. It was a controversial call but the NRL said he was correct.
Klein has also been awarded other prized appointments including the 2022 and 2024 grand finals and was selected to referee games in Las Vegas on all three occasions the NRL has opened its season in the American casino mecca.
Off the field, he has been a guest of Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club at racecourses as a plus-one of his partner, who was until recently an adviser to NSW Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris.
Racing NSW’s chief executive is Peter V’landys, who is also chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission and will become interim NRL chief executive from July 15 when Andrew Abdo leaves to take over at Tennis Australia.
Klein has been a mainstay in NRL refereeing for 17 years but first came into the public consciousness here in 2008 when he and English match officials were verbally abused by then Australia coach Ricky Stuart after the Kangaroos’ defeat to New Zealand in the World Cup final in Brisbane.
He had been officiating in the English Super League then but switched to the NRL in 2009 and has since become one of only three referees to adjudicate in 400 games in the competition.
The NRL has lucrative ties to the wagering industry.
Its annual sponsorship with Sportsbet is worth an estimated $15 million per year and all but four clubs have either jersey sponsorships or corporate partnerships with bookmakers.
The NRL has also cashed in on the boom in punting on the sport by collecting more than $50 million a year in product fees from bookmakers.
The Albanese government has announced restrictions on gambling advertising on television, radio and online which are due to kick off next year.
Under the reforms, betting sponsorships on jerseys and in stadiums will be banned, but the federal government has indicated it will grandfather those changes, meaning NRL team deals with bookmakers can be honoured until they expire.
The AFL also has close links to betting, some of which have involved umpires. Sportsbet last month parted ways with AFL grand final umpire Nick Foot following a tribunal hearing that put the spotlight on his additional employment as a racing analyst for the betting agency.
Former AFL umpire Michael Pell, meanwhile, is facing charges brought against him by police in Victoria over allegedly suspicious gambling on the 2021 and 2022 Brownlow Medal counts. He will contest them at a committal hearing in Melbourne on June 24.
Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
