Match fixing

Hello guys, are there fixed matches? Hell yes. They exist in every league of the world.... and Tennis is 'popular' newly. I believe that fixed matches are something unwelcome for all of next: punters, bookies, UEFA. Or I'm wrong?

Let me put it simple. Imagine you have 100% sure information about a outcome of some football match. Imagine that both of the clubs presidents told you that. Would you share that information with anyone? That information can potentially turn you into a very rich man. It cost millions. Why would anyone on earth share that kind of information with anyone else?

How To Fix a Tennis Match (by Alexandr Dolgopolov)

The campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem is the final stop for ATP player that are looking to pick up a few wins in the run-up to the final major of the year. In 2016, the tournament was even named as the '250 Tournament of the Year' in the ATP awards. However, the first main draw match of the 2017 edition has garnered attention for an entirely unwanted reason.

The match was between the Ukrainian former world #13, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro. Monteiro was playing in his eighth hard court match at this level and was still looking for his first ATP main draw win on the surface. Alexandr Dolgopolov was coming off qualifying in Cincinnati, where he beat the in-form Kevin Anderson before losing to Nick Kyrgios. The opening odds with Pinnacle had the Ukrainian as the 1.36 favourite, implying a 73.5% chance of winning the match, while Monteiro was priced at 3.28, a 30.5% chance (the 104% total is due to the overround applied by bookmakers).



The odds remained steady from their opening price shortly after 1pm on Saturday afternoon (all times are UK time) until around 6:20pm on Sunday evening, just under two hours before the match was due to begin. The next 20 minutes would see Dolgopolov's price at Pinnacle drift dramatically, reaching 1.63 at 6:40pm from 1.37. At this point, Pinnacle would remove betting on the match, signifying that they were seeing something untoward in the market.



Bet365, a major UK bookmaker, would continue offering the match up until 7:34pm, by which time, the price on Dolgopolov had drifted further, reaching a price of 2.37, implying just a 42.2% chance of winning the match. Coral, another UK bookmaker, offered it until 7:39pm, stopping their market once the price had reached 2.50, a 40.0% chance of winning.

The drift did not stop there as Dolgopolov's price continued to rise on the Betfair Exchange. We can see that 15 minutes before the start of the match, the prices had almost flipped entirely from the initial starting price, with Dolgopolov available to back at a price of 3.15, implying just a 31.7% chance of winning the match, compared to his initial 73.5% chance. At this stage, we were still 15 minutes away from the players even going onto court.



As the match started, plenty of tennis traders and followers had noticed the highly unusual odds movements and were watching streams of the match. Several bookmakers had decided to not even offer the match at all, which is unusual for an ATP match on the main show court. When he was broken in the fourth game of the match following back-to-back double faults, Bet365 decided that they did not trust the match and removed betting on the first set and slashed the limits for what could be staked on the match.




As the match progressed, it became clear that there was little chance of Dolgopolov winning the match. Monteiro was priced sub-1.20 after winning the first set and when he broke early in the second set, he shortened to 1.07. Those that were watching the match seemed in little doubt as to what they were witnessing:

By the end of the match, Dolgopolov had not created a single break point chance on the Monteiro serve. In the past two season, there have been just two matches where Dolgopolov has not created a single break point chance - at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon 2017, both against Roger Federer. It is the first time in Monteiro's entire career that he has not faced a single break point on a hard court. In his previous 7 hard court matches at ATP level, he had been broken no fewer than 31 times.

Now, it is true that Dolgopolov did have some strapping just above his ankle, which could have signified some form of injury. However, he did also have that strapping on last week and it did not seem to affect him then. Even if it was a more serious issue, one has to wonder how anyone found out less than two hours before the match and was so confident that it was serious enough to push his price from 1.37 out to 3.15. That sort of move is almost unprecedented and, in this scenario, suggests that someone knew of an injury so severe that it almost certainly meant that Dolgopolov had very little chance of winning the match. And that they only found out this information less than two hours before the start.

An alternative is that the match was fixed. It would take relatively significant money to move the Pinnacle market by such a significant margin and for them to decide to take the market down. The fact that every major bookmaker decided to suspend betting before the match started indicates strong suspicions among those companies that are able to see the bets being placed. The fact that several decided to not offer the match in-running only emphasises this fact.

From the outside, it is very difficult to determine what precisely has happened. However, what we can say is that the odds movements on this match are hugely suspicious. There are very few believable explanations for what might cause movements such as this and to this magnitude. It is important to note that there is no indication that Thiago Monteiro had any knowledge of anything that was occurring during the match. However, while there may be a valid explanation for what happened, it is impossible to deny that there are questions that need to be asked of Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Over the past 18 months, there have been a number of grand statements from the tennis authorities and the Tennis Integrity Unit about tackling the problem of fixing in tennis. If they are seriously about living up to those statements, then this is a match that they should be taking a very close look at. The TIU has said that it does not regard unusual betting patterns as an indication of corruption. However, to ignore them completely is to disregard one of the clearest indications of something amiss.

sportdw-com/2017/08/dolg---on-salem-suspicious-html

Very interesting info

Match Fixing: UEFA Ban Six Malta U21 Players



The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has banned six Malta under-21 international players, two for life, for match-fixing offences.

UEFA initiated disciplinary investigations against the seven Malta under-21 players for allegedly having infringed several provisions of Article 12 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations (DR) in connection to potential match-fixing issues.



The investigation related to two UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2017 matches played in March by Malta against Montenegro on 23 March 2016 and the Czech Republic on 29 March 2016.

After hearings on 14 and 15 December 2017, UEFA announced its decisions:

Emanuel Briffa Lifelong ban from all football related activity for having acted in a manner that is likely to exert an unlawful or undue influence on the course and/or result of a match or competition with a view to gaining an advantage for himself or a third party

Kyle Cesare Life long ban from all football related activity for having acted in a manner that is likely to exert an unlawful or undue influence on the course and/or result of a match or competition with a view to gaining an advantage for himself or a third party.

globaltake.com/match-fix...alta-u21-players25730-2/

Benfica the latest club embroiled in Portuguese match fixing probe



Having won the Primeira Liga title by just two points last season, Benfica's 1-0 win over Rio Ave in March is now reportedly being investigated by a public prosecutor for alleged match fixing.

A trial relating to Rio Ave's game against Feirense on October 21 has brought to light the potential discrepancy as the Vila do Conde side saw irregular betting patterns occur before that match.

With regard to their defeat against Benfica, four Rio Ave players are said by Correio da Manha to have been sent money by match fixers ahead of the clash.

Winning the game via a Raul Jimenez goal, last year's champions edged Sporting CP in the title race but now await the result of any investigation into this match.

marca.com/en/football/in...c33e5fdea75658b457d.html

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Benfica president hits back at claim over matchfix on way to 2016 title

LISBON: Former European champions Benfica have denied allegations concerning matchfixing.

The Correio da Manha had reported at the weekend that police suspected Benfica of fixing a 1-0 win over Rio Ave on April 24, 2016 on their way to winning the league title by just two points from neighbours and old rivals Sporting Clube.

This claim came only days after the trial of four people in a sports bribery investigation concerning a match between Feirense and Rio Ave last season. Four Rio Ave were alleged to have been paid to fix a 2-1 defeat on February 6, 2017. Rio Ave went on to finish seventh in the league.

Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira hit back at the latest claims, saying: “Our club is being targeted by a desperate campaign to prevent us from winning a fifth successive league title.

“Benfica fans can be totally quiet calm because no one in Benfica has tried to buy any referees or players from an opposing team. ”

keirradnedge.com/2018/01/02/benfica-fix-denial/

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Some interesting odds movement between these teams

Theres several rigged events per week, but its harder and harder to spot them although theres now several companies working on spotting and reporting these games. Why its harder and harder to keep the sports clean? Its because bookies are offering lower and lower leagues games and im not talking only about football here. Its a mistake to think that football have most fixes..far from this, but as football is one of most widespread sport, the biggest attention goes there. Just look some tennis game today..2 players ranked outside of top 200 and you can have 5 figure sum on the game spread on 10 different bookies, same goes with handball and volleyball competitions..very low leagues are offered for betting where players arent pros and earning basically bread money. Imagine that im ranked on 235th position in ATP and someone comes to me and offers 30k😟 In last 2 years around 150 players earned enough money to at least break even during the year in ATP and WTA, so if you are out this range in rankings, you are dependant on sponsors or family. Remember i read an article where it said that your chances of making money out of the game as a pro tennis player are about one in 250.000.
I remember when there were a lot of fixed matches in Ukraine U21 leagues few years ago. Players were earning around 200 dollars per month..the better ones but at the same time you could stake 5 figure sums on these games. Now lets imagine that someone comes to me and offers 6k in cash to concede at least 3 goals as goalkeeper...its damn tempting.

You are totally right and I agree with you 100%. Nowadays it's too much opportunities for professional sports players to make additional money especially when they need it. Fixers just hunting these type of players who are getting lower salaries or they can't progress their careers without sponsors or any extra money.
Tennis probably will be always the most easier sport to fix the match. If something going wrong or you see that inside information were spread over the world you can always retire.

Yes, its much easier to fix single players events for example. We had also a lot of games last season in Brazil lower leagues...again stupid amount of lower leagues games offered where players are earning barely enough to get the food on the table.
Read also some comments here about buying one...stay away..99% of sellers are scammers. As some guys here pointed out already...if i have info that game finishes with over 2.5 goals and i can easily stake like 35k on it...why the hell i have to sell it in some dodgy FB groups for 25 euros? Very common way for these scammers to get clients is give for example a tip like this: Todays international friendly game between Saudis and Moldova - ill give 10 guys a tip that its fixed for over 2.5 goals and 10 guys ill tell its under 2.5 goals and FIXED 10000%. Either way 10 guys will get winning tip..payment after or if they want next tip have to pay me...so stay away...you will not get these games from forums nor FB users-groups. If you are sharp enough you can catch some following the odds movements and money flowing on markets.

Yeah facebook groups was never LIT and these days they are much worst than it was. Nigerian "gamblers" are taking over it with "sure games"

gianDK banned from joinDOTA League for matchfixing

Jose GianMarco Durand Cornejo, known in the world of Dota 2 as gianDK, has been banned from all joinDOTA and Freaks 4U Gaming events for two years from March 23rd.

An investigation went underway by joinDOTA following a match between Thunder Awaken and MORTY on the second day of the joinDOTA League Season 12 America Division 1. The matchfixing suspicion came to life when Ian Smith, Commissioner of ESIC contacted the Dota 2 platform regarding the second game between the teams.



Jose GianMarco Durand Cornejo said the following after the decision was reached: “I did this big mistake, I acted by myself and I am actually very sorry to let down my team mates. No-one else is involved but me, I feel very sorry.”

gianDK admitted to matchfixing, and instead of his whole team being penalized, he confessed to acting on his own. Despite his teammates not being involved in the act, the team has been disqualified from Season 12 and will be moved into the Starter Division next season.

Thunder Awaken also left a statement: “The player “gianDK” is no longer a member of the team because news and messages arrived indicating that this player “matchfixed” in other types of tournaments and competitions. In short, the player gianDK betrayed the integrity and confidence of our organization after participating in a “match-fixing” on February 23 this year against the Morty team. We as an organization were not aware of this act, but until the administrators of jDL contact us to inform us about it. Our organization does not support this type of actions, and we hope that said player receives the corresponding sanction.”

joinDOTA also commented: “joinDOTA strives to provide the community with a platform where fair competition is held in high regard. Accordingly, we have zero tolerance for behaviour that undermines these values. We are disheartened whenever match-fixing allegations are made, but even more so when they turn out to be true. We would like to thank ESIC, who first brought this matter to us and helped us thoroughly investigate it.”

Not only is the player illegible to play in the aforementioned leagues, he’s banned from all ESIC member events for the same time period.

Here’s what ESIC had to say about the incident: “We are grateful to the betting operator members of our suspicious betting alert network for bringing this case to our attention and helping us with our investigation once we had made contact with joinDOTA and F4u. We are also, of course, grateful to the guys at jDL for taking the matter seriously and dealing with professionally.

“Match-fixing in an esports event undermines the credibility of the whole industry and we must continue to strive to maintain integrity so that the community is not short-changed by people like gianDK. In solidarity with jDL and F4U and because the evidence we gathered in the course of this investigation was so compelling, we will be asking all ESIC members to honour the 2 year ban imposed on gianDK.”

Esports Insider says: Hopefully this is makes for another strong message to encourage players across all esports titles that matchfixing should never be a viable option, and that it’ll only be a detriment to your gaming career in the long-term.

When eSports started to grow a lot of lower leagues and tournaments started as well and of course when you are playing in a low level of the game you couldn't afford to buy some extra things and the best way to earn extra "easy" money to lost the game. There is a lot of fixed matches in eSports and and the future about that doesn't look good at all. Need to start change something immediately.

UEFA strengthens match-fixing commitments via ESSA link-up

UEFA and ESSA have entered into an information sharing agreement, designed to strengthen the European football administrative body as it continues its campaign to rid the sport of match-fixing.

Aleksander Čeferin, President of UEFA, has recently stressed that the fight against match-fixing remains a major priority, developing and financing several initiatives to protect the integrity of the European game.

As part of the new agreement with the international betting integrity body, UEFA is to receive support from ESSA and its membership of 25 leading sports betting operators.

Efforts to identify attempted match manipulation will be carried out via the ESSA alert platform, which is dedicated to monitoring, reporting and tracking suspicious betting activity on a global scale.

As part of this is the operation of a betting fraud detection system (BFDS), monitoring and analysing activity on approximately 32,000 matches in Europe per year, across UEFA and domestic football competitions.

Khalid Ali, Secretary General of ESSA, commented:“ESSA has played a key role in coordinating and focusing the licensed, regulated betting industry’s zero-tolerance approach to the threat of betting-related match-fixing in sport.

“This agreement is further proof of our ongoing commitment to helping all sports authorities maintain the highest levels of integrity.”

The European body has also created a network of integrity officers within national associations, who are liaising with local law enforcement agencies.

In addition, UEFA is working together with the European law enforcement agency EUROPOL, as well as other national crime and gambling authorities, and also directly with police forces and prosecutors,

With education programmes also running, aimed at informing and educating players, referees and coaches about the dangers of match-fixing.

Anyone committing a match-fixing offence can expect to be banned for life from the sport by UEFA’s disciplinary authorities.

Emilio Garcia, UEFA’s Managing Director of Integrity, added: “We are delighted that ESSA will be teaming up with UEFA in our mission to eradicate the manipulation of matches from football, and the exchange of information between trusted partners is a key milestone in this fight.

“Match-fixing is a disease that threatens football’s soul, and the game must be safeguarded from those who seek to profit from it by criminal means.”

Argentine tennis player Nicolas Kicker guilty of match-fixing



PARIS: Argentinian tennis player Nicolas Kicker faces a lifetime ban after being found guilty of fixing two matches on the second-tier Challenger Tour, the Tennis Integrity Unit announced Thursday.

Kicker, 25, was found guilty of contriving the outcome of a match at the ATP Challenger event in Padova, Italy, in June 2015 and another match at the Baranquilla Challenger in Colombia in September that year.

He was also found guilty of failing to report a corrupt approach and of not co-operating with a TIU investigation into the allegations made against him.

"Having been found guilty of all charges, he will be sanctioned at a future date to be determined by Independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Jane Mulcahy," said a TIU statement.


"Details of the decision on sanctions will be made public when received."


Kicker is currently ranked at 84 in the world having reached a career high of 78 in June 2017.
He reached the third round of the Australian Open in January this year and the also the third round at the Indian Wells Masters.

ECB strongly deny allegations England players conspired to fix matches



England have strongly denied accusations three players conspired with bookmakers to ‘fix’ a session during the Chennai Test against India in December 2016.

The spot-fixing allegations were made in a documentary by Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera that aired on Sunday titled ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’.

In it Mumbai-based fixer Aneel Munawar is filmed by a hidden camera telling an undercover reporter that three England players co-operated with bookmakers to manipulate passages of play in the final Test of the five-match series in Chennai 18 months ago.

England lost the Test by an innings and 75 runs, a result that ensured a 4-0 series defeat.

The claims relate to the number of runs scored in a session, with bookmakers able to manipulate the market if they have the co-operation of players to ensure the amount of runs exceeds or is less than the market bracket.

Munawar also made similar allegations against Australian players in relation to a Test match against India in Ranchi in March of last year.

The documentary claims Munawar correctly predicted the outcome of the ‘fixed’ sessions in both matches before they happened.

However, England have denied the claims, with Test captain Joe Root and coach Trevor Bayliss both labelling them “outrageous”.

Root, speaking after England’s nine-wicket defeat by Pakistan in the first Test at Lord’s, said: “I am aware that there is a documentary and it is outrageous that our players have been accused. It’s not anything for the guys to worry about, we have to focus on winning [the next Test] at Headingley.”



Bayliss added: “It’s outrageous. I haven’t seen what’s in it [the documentary] so we’ll leave that up to the ECB (England & Wales Cricket Board) to deal with. Outrageous claims.”

The International Cricket Council have opened an investigation into the Al Jazeera documentary, which alleges widespread corruption across the sport.

However, Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, dismissed the allegations against England players, saying there was “no credible evidence” of wrongdoing.

Harrison said: “There is nothing we have seen that would make us doubt any of our players in any way whatsoever. The limited information we have been given has been discussed with all the England players. They emphatically deny the allegations, have stated categorically that the claims are false and they have our full support.

“Neither ECB nor the ICC is aware of any credible evidence connecting any England players to any form of corruption. ECB had been aware of the planned Al Jazeera documentary for some time but have not been given the full content.

“There have been repeated requests for any evidence and unedited materials to be shared with the ICC so they can fully investigate. We, like other member Boards, are disappointed that Al Jazeera have not been more cooperative and responsible when making such serious allegations.

“ECB has a regular dialogue with the ICC and its anti-corruption unit, fully supports its work and will continue to cooperate with their review.”

Police of Spain arrested in the case of contract matches



Spanish policemen arrested 21 people on suspicion of organizing match-fixing matches. Attackers affected the outcome of the football meetings of the third division (the fourth in strength) for men and the first division of the women's tournament.

Arrests were made in the provinces of Andalusia and Extremadura. Operations "Cortes" Spanish law enforcement officers conducted jointly with Europol, reports ESPN.

Both operations are related to a suit filed in March 2017 in the court of the city of Safra (Badajoz province).

In February, 31 people were detained across the country on charges of participating in an illegal Chinese syndicate of rates.

Last year, the CEO of Federbet, which fixes contractual matches, Francesco Baranka warned that unfair games are widespread in the lower divisions of Spain.

In April 2017, Spanish police arrested several people, including the players and coach of the Eldense team, after losing 0:12 from Barcelona.

ARGENTINA'S NICOLAS KICKER SUSPENDED SIX YEARS FOR FIXING MATCHES



Top-100 tennis player Nicolas Kicker has been suspended for six years and fined $25,000 for fixing two matches.

The Tennis Integrity Unit announced Kicker's punishment Tuesday, saying that he can reduce his ban to three years if he "commits no further breaches."

Kicker was kicked out of the French Open last month after an anti-corruption hearing officer ruled that the 25-year-old from Argentina arranged the results of two Challenger tour matches in 2015.

He also was found guilty of failing to fully cooperate with the Tennis Integrity Unit's investigation into the allegations.

Kicker is not allowed to compete in — or even attend — any sanctioned tennis events.

He was ranked as high as No. 78 last year and is No. 100 this week.

Match-fixing suspicions raised in Wimbledon first round

Possible signs of match-fixing have been flagged in the first round of a men’s doubles match at this year’s Wimbledon, report various US media outlets.

It is detailed that online global bookmaker Pinnacle Sports has subsequently confirmed that the match was “flagged as suspicious due to irregular betting patterns,” after “a series of bets from accounts with a history of wagering on suspicious matches” were placed in the immediate build up.

The New York Times has named the match in question as that involving Spanish paid David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco, who fell to a 7-6 6-4 6-7 6-1 defeat against João Sousa and Leonardo Mayer, of Portugal and Argentina respectively, last week.

Speaking to ABC, Pinnacle’s Sports Integrity Manager Sam Gomersall stated that “we would anticipate some minor odds movement in any tennis match”.

Before adding: “We followed our strict protocol when it comes [to] match-fixing alerts by notifying the authorities on site at Wimbledon and reducing our market offering immediately.”

It is reported that Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) has referred the matter onto the Tennis Integrity Unit, who said in a statement “The TIU has become more transparent, hence our publication of [quarterly] match alert data, but that is also balanced against the need for operational confidentiality, as in this matter”.

This follows news in May that Argentine Nicolás Kicker had been found guilty of match-fixing offences, as announced by the TIU, making him the highest ranking player at that time to be convicted.

Made hours before the draw for the French Open, Kicker was subsequently removed and a month later was handed a $25,000 fine and six-year ban, three of which are suspended on a probationary basis.

More info about these players from the past

lastwordonsports.com/201...fernando-verdascos-odds/

lastwordonsports.com/201...tigate-on-david-marrero/

Victor Anichebe accuses his OWN club of match-fixing to FIFA after twice being asked 'not to try' by coaches - including a game against local rivals!

* Victor Anichebe has reported his own club to FIFA over match-fixing allegations
* The striker lodged the complaint after twice being asked by coaches 'not to try'
* He claimed he was told by team-mates: 'This is China, we do as we're told'
* Anichebe has been in dispute with his club Beijing Enterprises since last October

Victor Anichebe has reported his own club, Beijing Enterprises, to FIFA over allegations of match-fixing.

The former Everton and West Brom striker lodged the complaint after alleging he was asked 'not to try' by coaches on two occasions, including for a game against their local rivals.

Anichebe questioned the instruction but claimed he was told by team-mates: 'This is China, we do as we're told.'



The 30-year-old has been in dispute with the club since last October and sought legal advice to take up his case.

Manchester-based sports lawyer Chris Farnell approached Beijing's general manager on Anichebe's behalf but his appeals for action have been ignored on two occasions and action has still to be taken.

While Anichebe never refused to play, the dispute has cost him a year of his playing career, one where he could have laid claim to a World Cup place with Nigeria, had he played regularly at a competitive level.

Now Anichebe has taken the complaint — which is still to be denied by the club — to FIFA and he hopes football's governing body will take action.



Chinese football has been blighted by match-fixing allegations in the past.

Shanghai Shenhua were stripped of their 2003 Chinese Super League title while in 2013, the Chinese FA fined 12 top-flight clubs £103,000, and banned 58 current and former officials, players and referees for match-fixing and bribery after a three-year investigation.

Last year, Shenhua denied separate claims and threatened legal action after a 2-2 draw with Jiangsu Suning was questioned and the FA investigated similar allegations against Tianjin Quanjian and Teda following a 4-1 derby win for Teda.