Bad Sport - Four Corners. By Linton Besser and Justin Stevens. Updated February 1, 2. Bad Sport. Monday 1 February 2. Four Corners investigates the criminal networks threatening the integrity of sport. It is replayed on Tuesday at 1. Wednesday at 1. 1pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 2. Saturday at 8. 0. EDT, on ABC iview and at abc. Transcript. Bad Sport - 1 February 2. SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: Hello and welcome to Four Corners. I'm Sarah Ferguson and I'm looking forward to a cracking year. For the past two weeks, sports fans in Australia and around the world have been riveted by the corruption scandal that's plunged the game of tennis into crisis. Since the story broke on day one of the Australian Open, with allegations that match fixing is rife, tennis authorities have been in damage control: at first denying there's a systemic problem and then, mid- last week, ordering a review of the claims. For the past three months Four Corners has been investigation corruption and match fixing in sport. Our investigations confirm the problem in tennis has been systemic for over a decade and, until last week, largely ignored by tennis authorities. But that's just part of a much bigger story. Four Corners has uncovered an explosion in online gambling markets, where match fixing can flourish, including operations linked to organised crime worth billions of dollars. Tonight, reporter Linton Besser takes you inside the murky world of the offshore bookmakers and criminal operators preying on the games we love. LINTON BESSER, REPORTER: The Happy Valley Tennis Centre is a long way from centre court at the Australian Open. This small club in suburban Adelaide is hosting a men's professional tennis tournament - and they're running it from a shipping container. Players stretch on the oval next door and their VIP lounge is the local cricket club. JAY SALTER, FORMER TENNIS PLAYER AND COACH: You literally go from one week to the next, um, just trying to pay those bills or pay for the hotel room or sleep in a hotel room with five other guys or whatever you can do. LINTON BESSER: There's very little prize money here. There's only a handful of spectators and you won't see these matches on television. Yet millions of dollars are being gambled every week on tournaments just like these. NEIL PATERSON, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, VICTORIA POLICE: When you've got multi- millions of dollars being bet on a low- grade game in tennis, then the opportunity for corruption flourishes. LINTON BESSER: The huge gambling markets on tournaments like these create the ideal conditions for match- fixing. If a player can be persuaded to deliberately lose a match - or just a set - anyone with that knowledge can place a bet and make a potentially huge windfall. NEIL PATERSON: In tennis, um, because we've got a game that involves generally just two players, we know that it is, ah, susceptible to corruption, so that it is possible to get to a more junior player, um, offer them, ah, ah, an inducement to forego a game or a set within a match and, er, get a corrupt outcome. RICHARD INGS, FORMER ATP EXECUTIVE: Well, if someone was to create the perfect sport for match fixing, it would be the sport of tennis. The line between winning a match and losing a match is very small. All it takes is one backhand that misses the baseline by a couple of inches; a, a second serve fault on a big break point and a player has lost a match 6- 3, 6- 4 - and in so doing can lose the match without any suspicion at all that the player actually threw the outcome. LINTON BESSER: As the play gets underway at Happy Valley, sports gambling analyst Mark Phillips is monitoring betting on the tournament. He has investigated tennis corruption at the highest levels. MARK PHILLIPS, GLOBAL SPORTS INTEGRITY: The betting patterns will show you when something corrupt is going on with that game, because the betting markets will move in a particular way when the match is being played out normally and they will veer away from that pattern when the match is not being played in a normal.. One match concerned him when he noticed that most bookmakers weren't offering odds on it. MARK PHILLIPS: There was, er, a certain group of bookmakers who were offering bets in play. The same group offered.. MARK PHILLIPS: They suspect that there are players who aren't always giving their best. LINTON BESSER: Four Corners has confirmed that one of the players in that match, Aleksandr Nedovyesov, appears on a secret blacklist maintained by bookmakers.(Footage of Linton Besser approaching Aleksandr Nedovyesov on tennis court during break)LINTON BESSER: Aleksandr? My name's Linton Besser. I'm from ABC Television in Australia. ALEKSANDR NEDOVYESOV, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: G'day. LINTON BESSER: I just want to have a quick chat with you about your game yesterday.. ALEKSANDR NEDOVYESOV: Yeah. LINTON BESSER: .. Most of the online gambling websites stopped, ah, taking bets on that match and I'm..
I was confused by it and wanted to kind of understand why? ALEKSANDR NEDOVYESOV: I have no idea. LINTON BESSER: Really? That's the f- the first you know of it? Members of the Winter Hill Gang, including the notorious James 'Whitey' Bulger (bottom right) and the author's cousin, Joe McDonald (top left). My cousin killed people. At least, that’s what I’m told. Bovada Payouts No Longer a Concern Posted by admin on 26 August 2012 in Betting Sites News. January 24, 2015 Update – It has now been over 3 years since this post was first written. Bovada has been one the fastest paying US. American Mafia History Website American Mafia Website - Underworld Slang. The American Mafia has a unique lexicon. Its collection of slang has been building for more than a century. Many of its words have entered mainstream. ALEKSANDR NEDOVYESOV: Am I, am I, am I somehow related to online betting or..? LINTON BESSER: And just for the record, the, um.. I mean, th- any suggestion of, of, you know, manipulating the match or fixing it or anything is.. You know, they've, over the years they build up a database of, of players that they believe are, you know.. And they decide they're not to offer markets on those players. MARK FERGUSON, NEWSREADER (voiceover; Channel 7 News, Feb): The first day of the Australian Open has been rocked by scandal, with rumours of widespread match fixing in the tennis world. LINTON BESSER: The 2. Australian Open was plunged into crisis after allegations of match fixing in the sport. NOVAK DJOKOVIC, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER (January): There is no room for any match fixing or corruption in our sport. We're trying to keep it as clean as possible. ROGER FEDERER, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER (January): It doesn't matter how much money you pump into the system, there's always going to be people approaching players. ANDY MURRAY, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER (January): I guess as, you know, as a player you just, you just want to be made aware, kind of, of everything that's.. It's still being investigated. Marrero also appears on the secret blacklist obtained by Four Corners.(To David Haggerty) Mr Haggerty, does tennis have a match fixing problem? DAVID HAGGERTY, INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION: No, it doesn't. DAVID HAGGERTY: Well, that's alleged in the paper and, again, I- you know, I can't really comment on it. I know that, I'm sure that the Tennis Integrity Unit is studying and looking into what happened to see if there's any evidence there to support the allegations. LINTON BESSER: But it's very embarrassing, though, isn't it? I mean, clearly there must be a problem if bookmakers don't have faith, ah, in the sport, in that event, and in the players to play to the best of their abilities? DAVID HAGGERTY: Well, to me, you know, you really have to separate the two things. I think there are allegations and then there's evidence. LINTON BESSER (voiceover): The blacklist obtained by Four Corners from a European bookmaker names more than 3. To David Haggerty) I'd like to show you something if I could.(Voiceover) Four Corners provided the list to the president of the International Tennis Federation, David Haggerty. Some of the players are deemed too risky for the bookmaker to take bets on at all, while others are marked to be closely watched.(To David Haggerty) That's a list of professional players in your sport who an international bookmaker has identified as far too risky because too often, time and again, they've been identified in suspicious matches. What does that say to you? DAVID HAGGERTY: It says that this is something that our team should be investigating and looking at. And I'm sure that they are. RICHARD INGS: I would not be surprised at all if there were many, many, many dozens of matches across all levels of tennis which have suspicious betting patterns every year.(Footage of open- plan office, with staff looking into banks of computer monitors)LINTON BESSER: Here at the Melbourne headquarters of Sportsbet, one of Australia's biggest online bookmakers, analysts are setting odds for tennis games around the world. This is called the trading floor and, at the far end, the company's risk team keep a lookout for suspicious bets on tournaments like Happy Valley. SPORTSBET TRADER: Interestingly is where we tend to see more activity around match fixing is some of the lower levels of tennis, you know, where these guys may not be playing for much prize money. LINTON BESSER: They monitor everything from players' injuries to the conditions on the ground - and compare them with the bets flowing in. CORMAC BARRY, CEO, SPORTSBET: We have the ability to monitor every bet that we take. We know where- who every one of our customers is: what their name is, where they live, what their IP address is, what they're betting on. And if we see something that's out of the normal, we will instantly notify the sporting body and then they can investigate that matter further. SCOTT COOK, DET. SUPERINTENDENT, ORGANISED CRIME SQUAD, NSW POLICE: Betting agencies can play a really good role in preserving the integrity of sport, particularly when they see fluctuations in betting or abnormal betting. Um, if- if they inform authorities and inform the sport, even if they discontinue betting on that particular matter: that all helps, ah, i- insulate the, the sport and insulate the players. LINTON BESSER: In September 2. Toowoomba. In the opening round the bookmaker's favourite, Australian player Nick Lindahl, lost to a much lower- ranked opponent. CORMAC BARRY: This was a classic case where we were seeing large bets from numerous individuals on a very small event. And in that scenario you automatically get suspicious and that's the classic red flag.
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