The world of professional tennis just can’t stay out of the negative headlines these days, specifically of the gambling kind. After allegations over previous match fixing surfaced during the Australian Open, more matches during the 2016 Aussie Open were under scrutiny for potential match fixing as well.
What could be worse than players cheating to earn an extra buck or two from gambling rings? Apparently umpires getting in on the action as well.
The Guardian in the U.K. has a report out indicating two international tennis umpires are already banned and four others are facing being kicked out of the sport for life at this point. All of it stemming from apparent live score fixing on of all things — the International Tennis Federation Futures Tour.
Umpires from Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine are among those alleged to have taken bribes from betting syndicates in exchange for manipulating live scores on the International Tennis Federation’s Futures Tour – which allowed crooked gamblers to place bets already knowing the outcome of the next point.
Yes, gambling rings and degenerates have sunk so low as to try and fix matches between tennis players who are hoping to make it up to the full-time tour.
In a likely attempt to avoid public humiliation, the ITF apparently kept the bans quiet and only notified a handful of tournament officials and national tennis federations.
An ironic twist comes in the fact that the ITF may have actually helped the gambling rings rig the game they are in charge of protecting, per The Guardian:
In 2012 it signed a lucrative five-year deal worth $70m with the data company Sportradar to distribute live scores from very small tournaments around the globe. That meant the bookmakers could provide odds on those matches, particularly on the lucrative in-play market, where odds shift as the games progress – and unscrupulous gamblers had a prime opportunity which they could ruthlessly exploit.
The issue comes with the human element to the Sportradar system, requiring umpires to update match information live via their IBM tablets. According to the report, gambling rings got in the pocket of some umpires and said umpires would delay their live updates by up to 60 seconds allowing those in the know to place bets already knowing the outcome of certain points.
A novel concept may be to outlaw gambling on individual points or games in the game, you know thusly eliminating a way for a match to be fixed or gamblers to have control over the key elements of the game.
There’s no doubt the sport of tennis is need of some serious help and deep thought in the area of gambling on the sport.
[h/t The Guardian]
