[clevfan]

May 29, 2007

It is odds on that quirky sporting bets will be banned to beat cheats

Sam Coates, Political Correspondent
THE TIMES UK

Betting on which footballer will receive the first yellow card in a match or the number of wides in a cricket game could be banned, The Times has learnt.

Football, rugby and cricket administrators fear that a new generation of cheats are taking advantage of unusual sports bets that are not dependent on the outcome of a game.

The Gambling Commission has announced that it is to consider introducing tough restrictions on the type of bets that bookmakers are allowed to offer. In a consultation paper released last week, the watchdog asked whether it “should require the gambling industry to offer only certain categories of betting opportunities”.

The proposal is being resisted by the betting world, which claims that there is no evidence of widespread cheating. It also marks a new low in the relationship between bookmakers and bodies such as the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

It is one of a number of ideas being considered by the commission to boost the integrity of sports betting. These include the creation of an official results service for sport similar to the one that currently exists in horseracing. At present bookmakers decide for themselves how they wish to settle bets.

The suggestions come after pressure from the sporting industry, which fears that the expansion of sports betting, driven by the arrival of betting exchanges such as Betfair, are the biggest challenge to the industry. Sporting organisations claim that investigating allegations of irregularity is difficult at present.

A spokesman for the FA told The Times: “We and other sports bodies have felt that we would like to have more support from the gambling industry in terms of regulating our respective sports.

“We have said we would ideally like a condition for a licence to be the fact that a bookmaker would cooperate with any investigations into irregularities, but also whether certain types of bets should be allowed. These would include which team gets the first throw-in, or elements of the game such as the first yellow card, where there could be room for abuse.”

He said that in the past they had found it extremely difficult to investigate possible breaches of the rules because of the resistance they had experienced in getting relevant information from the bookmakers.

The representative bodies of five sports – football, cricket, tennis, rugby league and rugby union – have employed a lobbying firm to try to tackle the issue.

Tim Payton, from AS Biss, said: “This is an evolving debate. We come from a culture where you can bet on anything – and we are just about the only country in the world to allow this.

“The number of wides is a very good example of the sort of bet we are concerned about, as is the first yellow card. Two individuals can fix that, just as if you want to be sent off in a football match that is very easy to arrange.”

The bookmakers strongly reject the calls for controls on what they can offer bets on.

They say that betting is now an international industry and, if certain forms of betting are prohibited in Britain, punters will use offshore sites via the internet. They also point out that they have rigorous controls in place already, because the bookmakers stand to lose most in the event of a rigged bet.

Tom Kelly, from the Association of British Bookmakers, said he believed that the sporting bodies had an ulterior motive. “I think sports bodies want to have control of the process,” he said. “I think there may be a hidden commercial agenda.”

He also denied vigorously that bookmakers had failed to cooperate with sporting bodies when there have been suspicions of rigged betting.

— All to play for

Football

— 26/1 on no player receiving a card in yesterday’s Derby v West Brom match

— 5/1 on five to seven corners being awarded during the match

Cricket

— 2/1 Devon Smith being the next man out in England v West Indies at Headingley

— 4/1 Method of next dismissal being LBW

Rugby

— 2/7 on first try being converted in England Saxons v Scotland A at Twickenham

— 9/4 on it being missed

Source: Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power websites