TENNIS ALERT FROM BETFAIR
26 June 2009
Online action warns betting watchdogs
The sophisticated software systems at major online
betting exchange Betfair.com have again proved their
value to the wider gambling industry by alerting tennis
watchdog officials to suspicious betting action.
The Times tennis blog reported on the incident, which
involved a first-round Wimbledon match Tuesday between
109th-ranked Wayne Odesnik of the United States and
30th-ranked Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
Betfair.com alerted authorities after the betting
exchange staff noticed an unusual spike in action.
A Betfair spokesman said that the online gambling
site saw six times the wagers it would normally see on
such a match. “Betfair received about $980 000 in wagers
on the match," he said. "The average for a first-round
match at Wimbledon is less than $163 000.”
Odesnik, who lost to Melzer in the first round of
Wimbledon, said he has no connection with an unnamed
European online gambling site. Odesnik said he had never
been approached about fixing a match. “I know at
Wimbledon they have people in betting shops but I have
no control over it,” he said. “I’m from the U.S. and if
they have been betting on a European site I have no
connection with that at all.”
The international
tennis authorities are sensitive to the dangers of
rigged games and corruption in the sport following the
late 2007 gambling scandal in pro tennis following an
investigation of matches involving Nikolay Davydenko.
The UK's Daily Mail reports that a single bet of GBP
365 000 is what sounded the alarm for Betfair and the
Tennis Integrity Unit: “Reporting what they termed
‘extreme’ gambles on a relatively obscure encounter,
they were alerted by a dramatic hardening of the odds in
favour of Melzer before and during the match,” the
newspaper reported.
Paddy Power and Ladbrokes,
two other online betting sites, stopped taking bets an
hour before the match began, citing the unusual amount
bet on a 3-0 result.
Betfair spokesman, Mark
Davies, said he doesn’t suspect any wrongdoing, but the
serious money backing Melzer to win in straight sets was
enough to prompt an investigation. The Austrian won 6-1,
6-4, 6-2.
After the match, when asked about the
suspicious betting, Odesnik said he knew nothing of it,
according to the Guardian newspaper. “It’s only my
second time playing here, I’m young, I’m here to play,”
he said. “I’m here with my coach and friends and I would
never do anything like that to jeopardise my future.”
The Guardian also reported that Odesnik had been
spotted the night before in a London pub (the player
said he was there “for dinner”). But Odesnik confirmed
he was not fully fit. “I had a little bit of an injury
in my last grass-court tournament this year,” he said.
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