Match-fixing has always been a problem for the world of sports. After gambling was introduced to games like football and baseball, the attempts for staging the outcome were inevitable. According to the representatives of the Australian sports industry, the issue is becoming bigger because of the influence of international online bookmakers. Despite the organisations that take measures to prevent such dishonest practices, the risk remains high.
The company of Sportradar is among the best data providers regarding sports events. One of the major assignments of the firm is monitoring match-fixing for FIFA. Aside from that, Sportradar is collecting data about amateur sporting competitions on behalf of offshore live-gambling operators. For the sake of keeping its work private, the company uses a low-profile. That is why the Real Time Sportscasts plays an important role in the work of Sportradar.
For the subsidiary, the process of collecting sports data goes through several stages. The firm uses university job boards for the targeting of students. Afterwards, the volunteers are sent to participate in amateur, low-level or semi-professional sports. Last but not least, once the teams are ready, the competition can begin. When the scouts are ready, they send all of the collected data to a call centre, where the information is distributed to gambling websites all around the world.
The Concern for Australian Sports
Australian sports experts are concerned with the possible consequences of that practice. The fact that international bookmakers use the sports data could lead other operators into emboldening match fixing on the local games of Australia. Protecting major events from the corrupting nature of gambling is hard enough, but what if it affects even the training facilities where the players start preparing to become professionals. As supporters of fair online wagering, the UK operators of TopRatedBettingSites.co.uk offer some information about the matter.
The main question that needs an answer is why do bookmakers need these competitions. After all, the betting market provides a lot of options to choose. Gamblers who want to play at the best online gambling operators can check this website to access the latest features for interactive gaming. Despite that, some of the bookmakers out there haven’t made a name for themselves yet. For these operators, betting on amateurs and semi-professional players is a big chance to expand, as competing against the leaders in the niche is almost impossible.
Scott Boucher, who is the administrator for the Southern Basketball League of Tasmania, is also concerned about the problem. As a representative of the amateur competition, he doesn’t like that data scouts are targeting the sport. He said that the players were surprised to find out that the odds regarding the games of the league were available worldwide. What they couldn’t believe was not that the information is on the internet, but that people would come to the matches to collect data for betting.
For Scott Boucher, it’s obvious that these games will be used for betting. He knows how staging the result of a match works. Players could back themselves to lose or miss the game on purpose in order to take advantage of the betting odds. Aside from that, there’s the risk of outside interferences or forcing the entire team to throw matches. According to the basketball administrator, if money is involved, there are always going to be people interested in making a profit no matter what.
Reasons to Change the Gambling Laws
It was not long before the need for measures against dishonest bookies was taken to a higher institution. After taking a close look at the revelations, Senator Nick Xenophon decided to tighten the gambling laws. He thinks that the potential for corruption of the sporting codes is too high, especially when professionals like officials and players can be compromised.
The senator mentioned that amateur sports games shouldn’t be affected by gambling in such a negative way. He stated that it would be only a matter of time before these bookmakers target a team of underage players or even minors. The problem is that there isn’t enough information on how such betting sites operate as they don’t leave any traces of controls, checks or other forms of documentation. That is why finding an offshore company is so difficult.
The matches of the ACT Premier League for Women are also under the observation of the data scouts and the international operators of the gambling market. The doubt about such practices has dented the confidence of the head coach Kate Tominac. The thoughts about outside intervention are making her question not only the game but the participants as well. That includes the likes of coaches, players and officials. Kate Tominac can not imagine any member of her team or anyone from the other teams being capable of sabotaging the game. However, she admitted that she isn’t sure at all.
The Opinion of Sports Experts
As a former officer of Interpol and former head of FIFA security, Chris Eaton is sure that at least one international online bookmaker is organising live gambling on these sports competitions. The primary concern of the expert is that the site may belong to criminals that have experience in using other internet operators for match-fixing on international football games.
Chris Eaton said that dishonest bookmakers have influence over the match fix because they control the betting fraud. The operators achieve that by managing a part of the betting market. According to the former agent, that allows them to manipulate the odds in favour of a fix, as they can determine the direction of the wagering process through their schemes. The position on the market gives these operators enough information to act as they please
For now, there’s no evidence about such frauds taking place in Australia. The director of Sportradar Andreas Krannich, who is in charge of the managing strategy and integrity, defended the usage of scouts at local games regarding Real Time Sportscasts. He stated that sending employees of the company to collect data about different sports matches, like major or local events, is not going to cause trouble for the respective sport. The director said that if the scouts of Sportradar don’t attend these competitions, then bookmakers are going to send theirs instead. In the latter case, there won’t be any control over the frauds in the betting industry.
