Ian Herbert: Sky Sports reports, Sky Bet reacts – conflict of interest?

All part of the turf for a Rupert Murdoch company perhaps, but Sky Sports certainly endures a lot of cynicism for a sports network which has done so much to transform the quality of football broadcasting. One of the more insane rumours doing the rounds last week was that Sky had been deliberately attempting to force Gareth Bale's move to Real Madrid because it would limit BT Sport's access to a player they are paying handsomely to be a brand ambassador. But the volume of responses to the observation, briefly raised in this column last week, that people are uneasy about the relationship between Sky Sports and Sky Bet suggests that they do have some explaining to do.

The pattern which unsettles so many people runs thus: Sky runs a story. Sky Bet pops up with the odds on screen or on Sky's Twitter feed. Punters throw money at the story. Sky Bet cuts the odds. And then Sky says the story has evaporated. Or, as someone put it on Twitter last week: "Oi @SkySportsNews, how much money did @SkyBet just make after you reported Man Utd wanted Mesut Ozil?"