How Match Fixing Has Hit The World of Sports Betting

From:  The London Telegraph

Football

Only this month, Lord Triesman was forced to resign as chairman of the Football Association after alleging that Russia and Spain were attempting to bribe referees ahead of the World Cup, prompting Jérôme Valcke, Fifa's general secretary, to ask Interpol to look into the claims.

In 2006 Italian police revealed that some of the country's biggest clubs had been bribing referees.

Cricket

The Hansie Cronje scandal at the turn of the century brought match-fixing into the spotlight and led to the formation of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit.

Last year an Australia player claimed to have received an approach from a man believed to have links with a gambling network during the Ashes.

Essex cricketers Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield were recently arrested on suspicion of ‘spot-fixing'. Meanwhile, Pakistan's tour of Australia this year has also come under ICC investigation.

Tennis

The ATP investigated suspicious betting patterns following Nikolay Davydenko's shock defeat by Martin Vassallo Argüello in 2007. After a year-long investigation Davydenko was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Andy Murray has claimed that match-fixing in tennis was common.

At last year's Wimbledon, between six and 12 players in the men's draw were placed on a "watch list" because of past involvement in matches where suspicious betting patterns occurred.

Snooker

World No1 John Higgins was filmed this year by undercover reporters from the News of the World allegedly agreeing to fix a match. The newspaper also alleged he tried to bet against himself in last year's World Championship final.

Stephen Maguire's victory over Jamie Burnett in December 2008 produced an irregular number of bets on Maguire to beat his practice partner 9-3.

Steve Davis has said that fixing is a cancer killing the sport.

Racing

The sport has been dogged by controversy, but the biggest scandal came in 2006 when Kieren Fallon, the six-time champion jockey, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud, alongside two other jockeys, Fergal Lynch, 28, and Darren Williams, 27.

Miles Rodgers, Philip Sherkle and Shaun Lynch were also arrested as part of a police investigation into the alleged fixing of more than 80 races in the previous two years. The charges were later dropped.

Boxing

"Taking a dive," as it is known, had been present in boxing since its conception. Jake La Motta admitted that he had thrown a fight, while Lennox Lewis's controversial draw with Evander Holyfield in March 1999 was investigated by the FBI after allegations that the judging was rigged against the Briton.