Corruption in Sports Betting
The following time-line shows some of the major instances of how sports have been affected by corruption:
-1919 - The Chicago White Sox accept bribes from gamblers and throw a World Series
-1951- A District Attorney Indicts college basketball players at four New York schools for points shaving
-1978 - New York mobsters organized a point shaving scheme with members of the Boston College basketball program
-1989 - Pete Rose accepts a ban from the MLB for allegedly betting on Reds games, the team he managed. He later admitted this involvement
-1994 - A Colombian soccer player who scored an own goal which influenced his team being knocked out of the World Cup is murdered possibly by group who lost a large amount of money on the teams exit
-1994 - Point shaving again this time Involving Arizona State. Uncovered as bookmakers became suspicious of sustained large bets against the team
-1999 - Floodlight problem which disrupts a major UK soccer match is linked to gambling on the match, 3 people arrested
-2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje admits to receiving 140K from bookmakers in order to effect aspects of his team’s performance
-2004 - As many as eight Italian soccer players found guilty of match fixing
-2004 - UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) investigates a Greek soccer match after unusual betting patterns reported by bookmakers
-2005 - German soccer referee Robert Hoyzer admits fixing matches and is later arrested. He also implicated other referees and players involved
-2006 - Brazilian soccer referees suspected of fixing matches. Two businessmen involved in the corruption ring later arrested
-2007 NBA official Tim Donaghy investigated for corruption
-2002-2008 - Several cases of corruption in tennis. Most commonly by players betting on matches they are involved in. Or passing the information on to others to bet
Importantly How can it be stamped out?
As time has gone on instances are becoming more and more common. Also notice how in the time-line the majority of corruption cases are either by amateurs or those who don't earn high salaries. Officials need to be paid well. In my opinion It is far more unlikely they would accept bribes / dealings If they were paid better. This applies to the Donaghy case and other cases such as where Italian and Brazilian soccer referees accepted bribes. Officials need to be paid salaries such as the professional sportsmen, on the sports they are officiating. Officiating should be seen as an attractive career path financially, they certainly earn their pay checks!
Like bookmakers already do they need to monitor betting patterns carefully, anything suspicious close the market. Accept smaller limits on sports and or events where corruption has a stronger history.
The governing bodies of the various sports need to allocate a significant amount of resources to help stamp it out. Come down hard on those found guilty and send the message that corrupting sport is a serious crime and will not be tolerated. This needs to become a global stance. Right now how it is dealt with varies in penalties significantly from country to country.
No matter what you do you are always going to have cases that slip through the cracks, but by implementing the above the growing issue can helped to be minimized.
dave nz
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