Betting is also threatened by match fixing

Match fixing has been around as long as sport itself but with the nature of modern sports gambling, the fixing of matches has become easier and is rapidly becoming a serious threat to sport. 

So says an expert on the topic, Warwick Bartlett, Director of Global Gaming and Betting Consultants. At the Play the Game conference 2005, he put match fixing into a historical perspective and pointed out that it is only now that sport’s governing bodies are fully waking up to the presence of irregular betting patterns. 

For the sport gambling industry match fixing is also a serious problem and the fight against it is a fight for survival for sport as well as betting companies.  If customers pick up on widespread fixing, their gambling will decline. As Bartlett pointed out, horse racing’s market share has declined because it is much easier to fix a race than it is to fix a football match.

He admitted, however, that today’s betting exchanges make the act of profiting by betting on a loser much easier, and he pointed to actions which are being taken to combat abuse of the system.

Warning systems
Usually, the first sign of a match being fixed is when large sums of money are being placed on that particular match, so to Bartlett the most important thing is to have an exchange of information between bookmakers and the sport in order to detect these gambling patterns and to inform the sport federations.

The Wimbledon tennis tournament, for example, has agreed a deal with the Betting Exchange Betfair to receive advance warning of any suspicious betting patterns.

Bartlett emphasized the need for strong law to back up the exchange of information as well as increased penalties that outweigh the profits of match fixing. In the UK, a gambling commission is being set up – a commission that has wide powers of search, is able to introduce harsh penalties, and can demand audit trails.

“They’re working with rather than against the sports and the gambling companies. And we are hoping that great things might come of this. We are hoping that it might provide a template for the rest of the world to follow,” Bartlett said.

Another idea currently being discussed is a so-called “white list” in which only certain approved gambling websites are awarded a licence to operate.