Sport is made for betting

It hasn't been a great week for the betting industry and sporting integrity. On top of the Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal and today's Hereford racing farce, there have been a couple of other sports raising eyebrows. At the US Open last night, Alexandr Dolgopolov was a huge late drifter from 3.5 out to 7 (losing 0-3 backed into 1.1) and consequently lost in straight sets to David Ferrer, a player he was very competitive against just a few weeks ago. After the match, his poor performance was put down to feeling unwell. Perhaps that's all it was, but it seems as if every man and his dog knew about it and bet accordingly. This kid has far too much talent to waste, but it's not the first match with suspicious betting patterns he has been involved in. The big story in Australian sport has been in the NRL. Rugby league in Australia has had a few suspicious betting stories over the years, now it sounds like the authorities have finally got their act together and might...

Goal.com reports details of an alleged fixed match last weekend in Russia. Russian football rocked by match-fixing scandal On Wednesday, Russia Today reported that the Russian Football Union was investigating claims of match fixing, following suspicious betting patterns during Terek Grozny's 3-2 win against Krylia Sovetov last Saturday. ... RIA Novosti said that Russian sports media reported before the game that one individual had staked $400,000 on a Terek win on the Betfair internet betting exchange. Furthermore, despite Krylia being eight places above 10th-placed Terek before the match, some 96 per cent of bets placed were on a home victory. After the news broke, a number of bookmakers stopped taking bets on Terek taking all three points and odds for a home victory dropped rapidly with other bookies. Russian football has often been plagued by rumours of fixed matches, with Terek's 2004 Russian Cup final triumph over, ironically, Krylia, alleged to have been bought for $6 mil...

Or should I say point-shaving, as that makes it sound cleaner? With American sports betting all being about the points spread, this does make it much, much easier to get away with manipulating a result. Sports bribery charged in University of Toledo scandal Also worth noting at the bottom of the article, the same two crooks faces charges for race-fixing, yet the law they are prosecuted under is 'wire fraud'. How about robbing other gamblers of a fair contest?? More on point-shaving from Xavi of OpenSports blog While you keep gambling underground and unregulated, this stuff is bound to happen and continue to happen.

The FA haven't called this match-fixing YET but when a bunch of players bet against their team and they are in the match, well that's what it is. Players charged over gambling An investigation into a betting scandal has led to charges against four players for staking thousands of pounds on their own team to lose. A fifth player has also been charged by the Football Association for breaching betting rules over the same game - Accrington Stanley v Bury in Coca-Cola League Two in May last year. An FA statement said: "All five are alleged to have placed bets on Bury to win this match. Mannix is alleged to have placed stakes to the value of approximately £4,000; Mangan £3,500; Harris £2,000; Williams £1,000; and Cavanagh on a £5 accumulator." -- Rumours about this match being suspicious had been around for quite a while. Throw the book at them. This isn't an innocent £5 bet, this is organised deceit of the club, fans, bookmakers and other punters. Three players in the ...