Courtsider scandal at Australian open hits the headlines
Australian authorities took a big step to send courtsiders packing last night with a aggressive move to enforce gambling laws. Australian legislators take a dim view of in-play betting as they feel it will damage the integrity of sport and it’s banned in Australia. This moves indicates they are actively seeking out courtsiders during games.
News broke as follows: –
“Last night a 22 year old man was arrested and charged with offences under Victoria’s new crimes integrity in sports act,” a representative said at an official press conference today.
Full story is available here with a detailed video: –
https://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/20772135/tennis-betting-scandal/
The press have picked up on it this morning as well, the mirror wrote – Brit arrested for illegal betting at Australian Open – and faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty.
Of course the ATP has been looking to cut out the coursiders for some time and announced some time ago that they wanted to protect their revenue streams from the sport. So it’s an activity that obviously carries a fair bit of risk now. Much more than when it was a burgeoning loophole to be exploited.
[Further thoughts]
If you go to a football match in the UK now, it’s likely you will see hundreds of people placing bets on the outcome of the match. It’s very common place nowadays and doesn’t’ mean that the sport is somehow corrupt. But I guess a lot of sports want, for one reason or another, to be seen to be doing something.
Category: Tennis
