Waterhouse cuts back TV betting appearance Rugby league fans are about to see a lot less of controversial bookie Tom Waterhouse. Waterhouse, the public face of the controversy over live spruiking of betting odds during televised sports events, has announced he'll cut back his appearances on the Nine Network's NRL coverage starting from Friday night. He says he now realises he was "too much in people's faces" with his TV appearances and has apologised and changed his approach. Waterhouse, a fourth-generation bookie and the son of trainer Gai Waterhouse, says his TV spots were part of his strategy to compete with the major international online bookies. "I've got to compete against these overseas big boys and try and keep my name out there," he told Macquarie Radio. At the same time I don't want to be doing it in a way that gets people upset and rubs them up the wrong way. Waterhouse said it had been an intense period for him over the past month or two but that was part and parcel of the business he had engaged in. Waterhouse announced his move in a front page open letter published in the Daily Telegraph on Friday. I have listened to the PM and Australia and have made the call with Channel 9 to dramatically cut back on my advertising from tonight," he said. Public anger over the practice led the government this week to announce a crackdown, which will include prohibiting all promotion of live odds by gambling companies and commentators during live broadcasts of sport. Senior politicians have welcomed Waterhouse's decision. "The public want to watch their football in peace," Labor backbencher Kevin Rudd told the Seven Network. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey also welcomed the move. You should have a betting-free opportunity to watch sport on TV. I'm over it," he said. However, independent Senator Nick Xenophon - an anti-gambling campaigner - was cynical. "His own research ... would be saying that the more he appears on TV is probably doing more harm than good," Senator Xenophon told ABC radio in Melbourne.