Sport is made for betting

A disturbing, but unsurprising, report from Pakistan about the infiltration of spot-fixing into the fabric of cricket at all levels. For all the posturing and anti-gambling hysteria from idiot politicians such as Senator Nick Xenophon in Australia, one thing is crystal clear - the more you drive gambling underground, the more crooked it becomes. Simple comparison - how often do you see betting scandals in the UK and Australia as against any part of Asia? Which one of those societies tries to force betting underground? Eastern Europe can also be considered closer to Asia than the UK/Australia because the only form of legalised betting is often via state monopolies with extortionate take-out/tax rates. Competition, licensing, regulation and education is THE ONLY WAY to handle it. Make all companies operate on normal business principles - look after the customer or they will attempt to screw you over. Keep a tight rein over companies so they always have their finances in order. Conditio...

After a few attempted rorts in rugby league and a few plunges based on leaked team information, the major Australian sports, backed by a few clueless politicians and media desperate for a story, have proposed clampdowns on exotic bet types. Now we all hate match-fixing in sport, don't get me wrong there, but invariably these shenanigans are restricted to betting via illegal bookies, where there is no audit trail for investigators to pick up. Legal betting outlets don't drop the ball very often. At the first sign of suspicious betting, alarm bells go off and word spreads like wildfire. The accounts in question are marked forever and the total exposure involved is usually only a few grand - less than they'll get out of the PR value of the ensuing story! Andrew Twaits says tighter controls on online poker is necessary *snipped* Sportingbet Australia chief executive, Michael Sullivan, called yesterday on professional sports under the Coalition of Major Professional and...

Take it with a pinch of salt though, after all, it comes from the Daily Mail.. Gambler in spot-fix claim is linked to England stars A gambler with close social ties to Premier League and England footballers is among those under investigation for involvement in an alleged ‘spot-fixing’ betting sting. The Gambling Commission and the Scottish FA have been passed details of multiple ‘irregular’ bets and attempted bets, many of them allegedly emanating from Merseyside, on a red card being shown during the game between Motherwell and Hearts in the Scottish Premier League earlier this month. Several betting firms have offered evidence. Motherwell’s Liverpool-born midfielder, Steve Jennings, who was sent off during the game for swearing at the referee, has denied any involvement in improper betting. The investigation has been described to me by some involved in the ‘integrity process’ as ‘a test of how seriously the Commission and sporting bodies want to take these issues’. . . ...

The state of cricket in Pakistan is still a complete mess. On one side you have Mohammed Asif cancelling his appeal against his spot-fixing suspension, virtually an admission of guilt. On the other, Salman Butt and Mohammed Aamer (Amir) are still protesting their innocence in the matter, although Aamer has been reported as saying he was influenced by peer pressure. Add to that the debacle of cricket administration in the country - trying to cover their own arses by throwing out random and baseless accusations about other countries fixing matches whilst remaining in complete denial about the state of the cancer in their own system. Yesterday's flee to safety of Zulqarnain Haider from the touring party in Dubai after allegedly receiving death threats because he defied orders to throw matches simply shows it is just more of the same. Access to players obviously isn't being blocked, and there must be others still in the squad who continue to insult their country and the world of...

News of the World have printed the latest series of allegations in the Pakistan cricket corruption scandal. Pakistan have had a chequered history in cricket with rumours, allegations and the odd conviction prevalent for a few decades, and before that, it was presure on home umpires to cheat - long before the neutral umpire system came in. So on top of last week's deliberate no-balls to show the players would perform on cue, now we have Salman Butt caught with a pile of dirty money in his room , a player annoyed at not being selected accusing most of his teammates of being corrupt and then the same player denying he said anything . The football club Mazhar Majeed confessed to using a money-laundering toy is now falling apart. And it all came from a tip-off .... It's time cricket authorities, and not just the ICC, had the balls to stand up to Pakistan and tell them to piss off to the B leagues, playing the likes of Zimbabwe. If the ICC don't kick them out, then countri...

More and more evidence is coming to light in the wake of the NotW scandal. GamblerFalls' blog points out that Shahid Afridi warned team management of the characters involved getting too close to the team. And naturally, what did team management do? Put their heads in the sand and ignore it.... The evidence is pretty damning now. I'd be really pissed off if I was boss of a ground about to host a T20 or an ODI in the next couple of weeks. Ticket sales are going to be screwed unless they are already sold. All that effort going into securing an international match, hoping for it to fill the coffers and keep the business ticking over - all gone now.

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also, ...