All bets off: NRL rethinks gaming ties "Gutless": Tom Waterhouse's relationship with the NRL is being reconsidered. The NRL is considering abandoning its official partnership with a bookmaker after a proposed $50 million deal with Tom Waterhouse unravelled. Fairfax Media understands the sport's administrators are weighing up whether the money it can extract from a partner is sufficient to offset the bad publicity surrounding sports wagering. The NRL's decision to reconsider its relationship with the industry comes as Mr Waterhouse was branded "gutless" after refusing for the second time to front a parliamentary inquiry into the promotion of gambling in sport. Mr Waterhouse had been expected to pay about $50 million over five years after outbidding the nation's leading wagering company, Tabcorp, earlier this year. "The [Australian Rugby League] Commission has expressed the view it wishes to assess the category a little bit before moving forward," NRL spokesman John Brady said on Monday. It was a case where we were in discussions but the terms weren't concluded. We have not signed any alternate sponsor at this stage. It is understood the NRL's new boss Dave Smith was instrumental in the decision to reconsider the deal with Mr Waterhouse. Tabcorp, which runs the TAB in NSW and Victoria, has been the NRL's bookmaker partner for the past 15 years. The deal gives the company signage at grounds, access to the NRL's intellectual property, such as video clips and photos, as well as the right for the bookmaker to call itself the sport's official betting agency. The NRL's spokesman denied negotiations with Mr Waterhouse had broken down after he became embroiled in a scandal over the running of champion mare More Joyous - trained by his mother Gai - at Randwick last month. The horse's owner, John Singleton, claimed the bookmaker had passed on inside information that More Joyous could not win. Although Mr Waterhouse was cleared of any wrongdoing, he was warned by NSW Racing stewards to separate his business from his mother's. Other bookmakers have told Fairfax Media they would consider bidding to become the NRL's official partner. However, all said any partnership was worth far less than the $50 million sum Mr Waterhouse had reportedly bid. One leading bookmaker said: "If I was the NRL - given what they could get for it and the atmosphere at the moment - I'd walk away from wagering." The breakdown of the deal with the NRL does not affect Mr Waterhouse's agreement with Channel Nine, which allows him to spruik his odds from the footy field. Labor MP Stephen Jones, who is pushing for a ban on bookmaker advertising on TV, welcomed the NRL's decision to reconsider. "Gambling is part and parcel of racing, of course, but it is not yet part and parcel of watching football and cricket and I think people feel very uncomfortable with it becoming so entrenched," he said. Meanwhile it has emerged Mr Waterhouse has again refused a request to appear before the Federal Parliament's gambling reform committee. His refusal to attend is a major embarrassment for the inquiry, chaired by the independent Andrew Wilkie, after it delayed reporting its findings in the expectation Mr Waterhouse would appear. It is the second invitation he has turned down, angering some members, including Greens Senator Richard Di Natale who moved the inquiry in February. "This is a gutless decision by Tom Waterhouse," he said. He is treating the Parliament and the community with contempt. It's hard to turn on the TV without seeing him and the moment he's asked some tough questions he goes to ground.