Betting rings threaten future of Wimbledon

Match-fixing has become the bane of many sports in recent years.  With allegations and accusations in football, tennis and cricket, does true sportsmanship still exist or can everyone be bought?

Several bookmakers have cooperated on a report which investigates professional tennis matches, including Wimbledon matches from the men’s singles.  Suspicious betting patterns were detected in many cases, where bets spiked improbably. 

The British betting site Betfair discovered that while the average betting turnover for most matches was between £20,000 and £40,000, some matches had turnovers up to £4 million.  This indicates a likelihood of match-fixing and could be a sign of foul play.

Players are offered large sums to lose or throw the match, much higher – up to 10 times - than the prize money they would get if they won.  One professional player, Gilles Elseneer, admitted that he had been offered a bribe of £70,000 to lose a match at Wimbledon in 2005, which he turned down.   

Those involved in organizing the illegal operations are alleged to be Russian, East European and Austrian gangs.   

Betting firms are keeping close tabs on the matter and Wimbledon’s All England Club has increased security, preventing anyone from accessing the locker rooms other than players and coaches, and attempting to prevent insider information getting out. 

A corruption unit will be formed with the power to hand out big fines and three year bans to players found guilty of involvement in match fixing.

We can only hope that both the tennis authorities and the bookmakers are successful in stamping out this practice and finding a way to restore integrity in sport.  As the public becomes more aware of this deplorable state of affairs, many will simply lose interest in sports fixtures, and competitive events could lose all meaning.  Betting is a huge industry providing a livelihood for many and if it is to continue, it must make all possible efforts to remain clean and legal.