Friendlies and match-fixing are a match made in heaven

Another reason why international friendlies are probably more hassle than they are worth. Clubs hate them for the injury risk, fixers love them for the less than 100% attitude of players & officials. And fans are willing to believe most results as managers experiment with tactics and formations.

Kudos as always to the whistleblowers.

Hong Kong footballer sentenced over match-fixing bid

HONG KONG: A young Hong Kong footballer has been sent to a detention centre after admitting trying to bribe his teammates to throw an international friendly against Russia, court officials said.

A magistrate's court Friday ordered Iu Wai, a 20-year-old defender for Hong Kong's under-21 side, to be held at the detention centre after he pleaded guilty to two counts of bribery, a court spokeswoman said.

Under Hong Kong law, young offenders can be sent to a detention centre for between one and six months as an alternative to prison. The length of their sentence is determined during the course of their incarceration.

Iu promised two teammates -- a defender and a goalkeeper -- tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars if they helped to deliberately lose a friendly against the Russian youth team.

The duo refused and reported him to the anti-corruption authorities, who staged an unprecedented raid during the November game while 5,000 spectators looked on. Iu was arrested later.

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Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

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,

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Sport is made for betting

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