Sports leaders were warned Wednesday night that match fixers were increasingly turning to ‘courtsiding’ to commit betting fraud after a British man became the first person in the world to be arrested for the practice.
A 22-year-old was charged with a new offence of “engaging in conduct that would corrupt a betting outcome” after police swooped on the Australian Open on Tuesday following intelligence that he was exploiting the seconds-long delay between the on-court action and ‘live’ television broadcast to defraud bookmakers.
Christened ‘courtsiding’ in tennis, the practice involves a spectator at a sports event using or passing on data in order for bets to be placed on in-game markets before bookmakers receive that same data and adjust their odds accordingly.
The offence, which came into force last year in the Australian state of Victoria, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, with the British man arrested due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
Police alleged that he was part of a gambling syndicate and flew into the city especially for the Australian Open.
Graham Ashton, the Victoria Police deputy commissioner, claimed that he was “alert” to other individuals involved in the alleged fraud, which he indicated was not an isolated incident.
The man arrested was described yesterday by Australian media as an employee of Sporting Data Limited, a private sports betting company based in Surrey and said to be worth around US$40-million.
The Daily Telegraph attempted last night to contact the company’s listed directors, Martin Pendlebury, Simon Allen and Steven High, but its accountants said that the trio did not wish to discuss the matter.
One of the world’s leading experts on integrity in sport, the former FIFA head of security Chris Eaton, believes that the same criminals involved in match fixing had turned to courtsiding because it was easier to accomplish in environments where their usual modus operandi was becoming more heavily scrutinized.
That includes the United Kingdom, where alleged match-fixing scandals were exposed by The Daily Telegraph and other media late last year, and where a Chinese man was briefly detained by police on Sunday on suspicion of feeding information to an overseas betting syndicate while at Coventry City’s League One match against Crawley Town.
Proactive measures, including the use of investigators, are in place at matches to observe the activities of suspects hidden within the wider fan base
Branding courtsiding a “growing menace,” Eaton, who is now director of sport integrity at the International Centre for Sport Security, said: “The criminals involved in match fixing and betting fraud are realizing that there’s a concentration of effort today in combating them and they’re looking for other ways of doing it. They’re just waiting for the interest to die down and they’ll be back to business as usual.”
Eaton said that another method being used by fraudsters was to bribe the scout responsible for providing score updates to bookmakers in order to delay them being passed on.
The events on Tuesday represented a second major scalp for Victoria Police’s new Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit, which last year arrested four British footballers after smashing the Australian game’s biggest match-fixing ring.
Britain’s new National Crime Agency has also shown an appetite for tackling corruption in sport, as witnessed by last year’s football match-fixing arrests. But Eaton said that unilateral action would not solve the problem. “Unless we monitor, control, properly supervise sport betting around the world, people will always find ways of manipulating it. We are putting a finger in a hole in the dam each time, instead of actually repairing the dam.”
The Gambling Commission, whose own Sports Betting Intelligence Unit undertakes investigations into alleged corruption in British sport, last night said it was becoming “more aware” of courtsiding, which police also confirmed was an offence under the Gambling Act.
The Football Association, whose fraud unit interviewed the Chinese man alleged to have been involved in courtsiding at the weekend, revealed details of its own efforts to combat the problem. “Proactive measures, including the use of investigators, are in place at matches to observe the activities of suspects hidden within the wider fan base.
“Any person collecting and transmitting data for organized betting purposes — that has not been authorized to do so by the football authorities — will be found, ejected and, where appropriate, prosecuted. Fans should be suspicious if they are approached to provide this kind of service.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board, which has been at the forefront of tackling the problem, revealed that last summer there were 23 ejections for suspected courtsiding from 13 county grounds — comprising 15 people. It said that it was unaware of any ejections from England games.
The All England Club revealed that it was aware of two such incidents at Wimbledon, both believed to be in 2011, with a spokesman confirming courtsiding was “on our radar.”
The Rugby Football Union and World Snooker and horse racing’s Racecourse Association said that they were unaware of anyone having been ejected for courtsiding in their sports.
What is courtsiding?
Courtsiding is a method of defrauding bookmakers by exploiting the delay between an incident taking place at a sporting venue and that same data reaching the bookmakers. It is focused on in-game betting markets, which allow punters to place bets on ever-changing odds while an event is taking place. Pictures from an event televised ‘live’ take crucial seconds to reach the screen after an incident or a result happens in real time.
Is it illegal?
In the UK — and Australia, as proven by this week’s arrest — yes. The Gambling Act 2005 says it is an offence to enable or assist someone to cheat at gambling. It is not illegal in many other countries, but sporting events tend to have rules allowing organizers to eject anyone suspected of courtsiding. There are those who believe there is nothing wrong with punters taking advantage of a loophole to beat the bookies, but some gambling syndicates who employ the practice are linked to match-fixing and other organised crime.
Can I use my mobile phone at a sporting event?
Except when asked to switch it off, yes. Regulations at most sporting venues stipulate portable devices can be used to make calls, send and receive texts and browse the internet, provided it is for personal means. Any commercial use is usually forbidden, while venues are increasingly clamping down on access to betting websites on their own wifi networks.