Arrests in Spain after tennis match-fixing inquiry

[Optional]

Madrid: Spanish police arrested 34 people suspected of roles in a criminal betting organisation that fixed tennis matches in tournaments in Spain and Portugal.

The arrests, the result of an investigation that began in 2014, took place across several Spanish cities. The network paid bribes to players to get them to throw matches, using as an intermediary a former tennis player who knew the players involved. The matches, mostly in Spain, were part of the Futures and Challenger circuits, lower tiers of the men's pro tour.

Six tennis players and two people believed to have led the match-fixing network were among those arrested in Seville, the capital of the southern region of Andalusia, and A Coru??a, in northwestern Spain.

The Spanish police did not name the players or other detainees. A police official said, "These aren't well-known players," and put them between 800 and 1,200 in the world rankings.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/arrests-in-spain-after-tennis-matchfixing-inquiry-20161201-gt2b4b.html

[Conqueror]

Comments:
1) They never name the players
2) They only go after inconsequential players. They never go after the higher-ranked ones. Talk about hypocrisy.

[beefcake]

Well when you only win 1,000
for a futures title and maybe 100-200 for 1-2 matches played,,I would fix as well.

[beefcake]

Comments:
1) They never name the players
2) They only go after inconsequential players. They never go after the higher-ranked ones. Talk about hypocrisy.

They should hire professional gamblers to help.Im serious.Like when the government hires former hackers to work with the NSA or CIA.We are the ones who know the players better than anyone and how they play.

[reedy]

Comments:
1) They never name the players
2) They only go after inconsequential players. They never go after the higher-ranked ones. Talk about hypocrisy.

Just change the fixing to steroids and its the same in all major sports.

[jtoler]

They usually do name the players. First time Ive seen them not named.

[HeeeHAWWWW]

Not so sure this was a "fixing ring" as much as players just trying to make ends meet. Not much of a moral distinction I know.

Anyway, I saw the list of players involved, it's as said, they're all nobodies - although some are quite young. If any had gone on to proper careers you have to wonder about blackmail potential at higher levels.

[19th Hole]

Reigning Australian Open boys champion Oliver Anderson charged with match fixing

• Nino Bucci
  
  

Reigning Australian Open boys champion Oliver Anderson has been charged with match fixing, in a corruption scandal set to send shockwaves through the tennis world only days before the start of the year's first grand slam.
The 18-year-old from Brisbane was charged on Thursday with fixing a match at the Traralgon Challenger tournament last October. Less than nine months earlier, he lifted the trophy as the winner of the Australian Open junior boys title at Melbourne Park.



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Australian Open boys champion charged ...


Australian Open boys champion charged with match fixing

Brisbane player Oliver Anderson has been charged with fixing a match at the Traralgon Challenger tournament last October. Sunrise, Channel Seven


Mr Anderson is coached by well-known former professional Wayne Arthurs, and is regarded as immensely talented.
A spokesman for the Anderson family said late on Thursday night: "Oliver is cooperating fully with authorities. He now awaits the legal process."
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Mr Arthurs declined to comment. Fairfax Media does not suggest he was involved in the alleged match-fixing in any way.
Other tennis figures expressed dismay at Mr Anderson's alleged conduct, saying that while his work ethic could be questioned, he had the potential to have a strong career as a professional.
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"It's extremely disappointing," one well-known former professional said
"I just don't know why he would have [allegedly] got involved in something like that. I didn't think he was that dumb."

Oliver Anderson has been charged with match fixing. Photo: Getty ImagesVictoria Police sporting integrity intelligence unit detectives charged Mr Anderson on summons with engaging in conduct that corrupts a betting outcome after an investigation which also involved Latrobe Valley detectives and bookmakers. He will appear at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on March 2.
It is alleged that Mr Anderson was approached to tank, or throw, the first set of his first round match, against another Australian, Harrison Lombe.

• Oliver Anderson receives medical attention during last year's Australia Open, where he claimed the boys' title. Photo: Getty ImagesHe lost the first set 4-6, but won the next two 6-0, 6-2.

Mr Anderson lost his next match at the $50,000 tournament, which was played by those on the lowest tier of professional tennis.
Fairfax Media has spoken to people who witnessed Mr Anderson's matches and did not consider anything about his play to be obviously unusual.
Another person who had been close to the 18-year-old said he had struggled at times with his love for the sport, but that he thought he could become a top-70 ranked player.
Mr Anderson had hip surgery last year, and did not play at the Australia Open wildcard event last month. He would not have been eligible to play this year in the boys competition, which has also been won by compatriots Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.
Last year's Australian Open was rocked by revelations about the extent of match fixing in tennis, including that Victoria Police had questioned local tennis figures about matches which could be suspicious in the main draw of the tournament.
A mixed doubles match was then reported as possibly fixed after an analysis of unusual betting patterns.
But there has only been one previous investigation into tennis match fixing in Australia which resulted in criminal charges.
Tennis Australia integrity officials backed a new regime implemented last year to better detect corruption offences and inform players about the risks of organised crime.
"We have upped the ante...[but] it's disappointing, there's no doubt about it," Ann West, head of integrity and compliance, said.
"You would be naive to say it wasn't."
Tennis Australia integrity officer Peter Peterson said that increased resources would make a difference to reducing the number of players tempted by corruption, and that the organisation had improved its education for players, which is offered for 12-year-olds through to professionals.
"We have zero tolerance for this type of behaviour. It's that simple."
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Paterson said that since the sports integrity intelligence unit was established in 2013, it has cracked three significant sports corruption cases: the Southern Stars soccer case; a harness racing fix involving the high-profile Cramp racing team; and a tennis sting involving former professionals Nick Lindahl and Matthew Fox.
The Traralgon Challenger was also targeted in the Lindahl/Fox case.
Assistant Commissioner Paterson said that while the offences uncovered by the unit so far had involved lower-profile sports or lower-tier tournaments or leagues, it was important to stamp out corruption no matter where it occurred.
If a player had been corrupted at a lower level, organised crime figures could have leverage over them as their career progressed, he said.
"I'm not going to suggest it doesn't occur at more professional levels, in fact we know that it does.
"Match fixing is one of the fastest growing organised crime types across the world.
"In-play betting and individual sports...are the big, risky practices for us."
Assistant Commissioner Paterson said sports leagues and organisations had become better at sharing information with authorities and educating players to "target harden".
"You become aware of the signs of what to look for and what to do if you're approached on social media or via a knock on the hotel room door."

[Tboonepickem]

Ugh....

[gorwin068]

As a gambler, I'd love to see there is more and more arrest so the players are less likely to fix matches again.
But no doubt it is not possible to stop all of them though.

[bettingmosquito]

I would like to know on which bookmakers such bets are placed, when players fix matches on challenger/future tour.

[Snowball]

they will never crack Fognini.