An interesting story surfaced in the British newspapers this week. The UK’s Gambling Commission has investigated more than 200 cases of alleged game-fixing since it started monitoring these activities back in 2007, with approximately four new cases per week brought to its attention.
Game-fixing is, of course, nothing new in the world of sports betting; it’s only slightly younger than the oldest profession mankind devised. From the Roman Colosseum to the modern day race track and online booking service, game-fixing is part of sports betting. But it’s a part that authorities would like to dismiss, and punters should too. If allowed to get out of hand, sports fans will stop believing what they are watching is real and stop turning on the TV, sponsorship and betting revenues will fall away, and then it’s bye-bye to one of the UK’s favourite pastimes.
The majority of the Gambling Commission’s game-fixing investigations centre around snooker, football, horse racing and golf. Cases that are found to lack evidence are closed, but are always on file and ready to be opened again at a moment’s notice should evidence present itself at a future date.
The Gambling Commission said, “A criminal case will very often rely on establishing relationships between those involved and following flows of money.” So what that means in practice for punters is that an investigation can take months and years.
But authorities in the UK are sinking copious resources into the investigation and prevention of game-fixing during the 2012 Olympics, which are set to start in July and will take place in London. They’re expecting game-fixing to be on the rise and are concerned that legitimate bets on games could suffer due to illegal activity. So, they’re not going to take it laying down.
It’s also worth noting that contrary to popular perception, only a tiny percentage of corruption in sports cases are actually related to betting. A Coventry University-authored study commissioned by gambling industry trade associations found that of 2,089 proven cases of sports corruption from 2000-2010, 96% were doping related with the misuse of inside information for betting purposes only figuring in 1.5% of cases.
In other game-fixing news, Wayne Rooney Sr. is still under investigation for a possible betting scam involving his football star son, Wayne Rooney Jr. The father and nine other men have been accused of suspicious bets placed on one game in particular on striker Steve Jennings. All men have denied any wrongdoing.
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