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, ...
A blog about betting, trading, sport and some of the dodgy elements within them. www.sportismadeforbetting.com.
Scott
ReplyDeleteIn your article entitled "We have the tools to keep sport free of match-fixing" you used the phrase "illegal betting syndicates in South-East Asia". This is a common term seen in almost all media articles on betting in sport. Why are they referred to as "illegal"? Why not just "bbetting syndicates in South-East Asia"?
Thanks
James
hi James. Can't recall whether they were my words or an edit, but that's immaterial. Don't have a problem with illegal being attached to the Asian syndicates since betting (either locally or abroad) is breaking the law in most of those countries, but it is frustrating when illegal is applied to all betting syndicates everywhere in other publications..
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