Tennis Match-Fixing
Credible and good. The Buzzfeed investigators – John Templon and Heidi Blake – should be congratulated.
Three more facts.
One, I was with a major monitor of sports gambling fixes. They are experts in this world. Their people were estimating approximately one fixed match a week in the the tennis world.
Two, I interviewed a player and then two senior investigators who told me that some tennis players make more money fixing games than playing honestly.
Three, the secret reports that the story is based on, speak of a systemic corruption in tennis where players have helped each other for years with the ‘tanking’ of matches. What has changed in the last ten years is the existence of the large gambling market where they can make cash on the practice.
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IAAF scandal shows the natural extension of the anti-corruption in sports industry. Once they are corrupted taken to a logical extreme – you can get suppression of results and extortion.
Richard Pound, once again, shows why he should be installed immediately as the interim president of FIFA. Get him there and the Augean stables of international football would finally be cleaned up.
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Comments (3)
It is easy to find Internet posts about the structural problems, that the second (Challengers) tier of the pro tour pays peanuts (10K for winning a 32-man KO), compared to the 25-50K from fixers. Only the top 100 are really even making a living in pro tennis, and once you realize your time is limited, injuries occur, etc., fixing is an easy solution.
Sadly, you’re right.
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