Match Fixing by Referees

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/sports/soccer/fixed-matches-cast-shadow-over-world-cup.html?_r=0

Match Fixing by Referees

While most gambling in soccer is assumed to be from the casual fan throwing money around at different teams competing, there is a darker side to betting: match fixing. Specifically match fixing by soccer referees. The article describes how there was speculation that match fixing by referees was running rampant heading into the World Cup in Brazil. The number of referees approached to fix games that didn’t follow through was even higher. If one thinks logically, then they would assume that this is not a problem that has suddenly appeared; It is obviously something that has happened for years. Clearly, it isn’t fair for a referee to have the power to purposely change the outcomes of matches, but how do you stop it? There is little to no oversight on referee interactions prior to games, as the article mentions. However, we don’t want to watch soccer assuming every missed call/bad call is a result of a corrupt referee. So the question is, do you think there is a better way to monitor referee match fixing in soccer?

-       
Cameron Price

Making Gambling Legal

All the information from this article was gathered from the article below.

http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/12925786/why-legalization-sports-betting-only-first-step-us-gambling

The last article that I wrote talked about how gambling can be dangerous when it can involve not only taking away the fairness of the game, but also putting the players physical well-being at stake. This extreme case makes a compelling case against gambling when it takes this form; however, others think that gambling can be good for the sport. Author David Purdum of ESPN.com thinks that gabling can be a positive additive to the sports experience when corruption is taken out of the equation.

            

            Former FIFA employee Chris Eaton commented in the article that Europe, specifically Eastern Europe, has “driven soccer into the danger zone.” They have done so by showing the world how corruption and greed can ruin a sport, driving people to not want to be involved with soccer. However, it is estimated that global sports betting is “four times larger than the global sports economy.” Obviously, there is a lot of interest from corporations to get involved in sports betting and to make it legal. Unfortunately for Europe, the U.S. is much better at betting and avoiding corruption. A study found by a Las Vegas consulting firm found that “ only .01 percent of games across 12 U.S. sports leagues from 1990 to 2000 were corrupt.” So the path for legalization will most likely take place in the U.S..

             The U.S. is already very successful with legal betting as Daily fantasy sports is a booming market and Las Vegas’ legal book-keeping makes up a material part of the market successfully. David Burdum believes that for the U.S. to succeed more and for them to make betting legal, the government and bookkeepers have to agree to a fair tax model where everyone benefits. This however, is really the only real suggestion he makes.

            So it seems that David’s article almost completely ignores violence that is potentially a threat to players due to sports gambling. Additionally, he does not seem to offer a solution to it. Even if sports betting does become legal in the U.S., is successful and then is adopted in Europe, would it stop potential violent threats put on players to perform a certain way match fixing?

-Scott Augenstein

2015 US Open Controversy

The article that I have found here speaks of a ATP linesman that had been banned from his officiating duty due to wagering on tennis matches was not prevented from working at the 2015 US Open! Apparently Denis Pitner, who was banned for 12 months beginning on August 24, 2015, had already picked up his credentials for the upcoming US Open beginning on August 31, 2015. He remained involved in officiating the tournament all the way until September 10th, 2015 on which were Men's quarterfinals matches and women's semifinal matches. While I understand that it may have slipped through the cracks that he was allowed on the grounds with his already picked up credentials, I cannot believe that there was not a system in place that prevented the tournament organizers from assigning him matches to officiate. Seems like there should have been red flags all over this. The article also says that the same official was not prevented from officiating another ATP event in Doha in January 2016. Clearly the ATP needs to readdress how they are credentialing their officials and prevent this from happening in the future. I am interested to see what you all have to say about occurrences like this, whether or not you think it ends up having a significant impact and possibly discuss how the ATP may or may not be fostering an environment that is too susceptible to those that may be fixing matches. As you can see, not only are match fixers attacking the sport from the players side, but likely also able to impact matches by way of the officials.

-Jacob Koretz

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3444967/US-Open-organisers-admit-banned-umpire-worked-2015-tournament-linesman.html

Gambling and Corruption in European Football

All information gained for this article came from the link below

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1956257-in-search-of-redemption-fixing-betting-corruption-in-football

Gambling and sports culture has over the years been interconnected with each other; however, with gambling being illegal, where is the breaking point where one take gambling to an extreme. The extremes of gambling often come in the form of rich ill-minded persons who wish to make a gain on their gamble by changing the odds of a game with violence and bribery. According to a report on sports betting by SportsBettingOnline, the gambling industry is worth 306 billion euros in Europe. Where does such a popular industry that potentially is harmless go wrong in such a negatively impactful way for the players, the fans, and the sport itself?

The negative side of gambling’s base is at lower level tier football teams where young players who are not getting paid, yet alone paid on-time according FIFPro, that much are offered a large sum of money by corrupt business men in exchange for performing in a way that would greatly impact his team and give the other team a significant opportunity to win the match (For example, in football [soccer], receiving a red card, fouling in one’s own penalty box to give the opposition a penalty kick, an own goal, ect.). Even some referees are bribed to give a certain team an advantage. To keep these players from deviating away from their given duty they are threatened physically or other violent actions are threatened. This is a way to keep players from speaking and telling authorities or football officials about these problems. All of this leads to something like the Welling vs. Billericay in Novemeber 2012, which was a game with 407 spectators that seems insignificant in the football world; however, the game had over 1 million euros wagered onto it. Shockingly, no formal investigation any governing body in any respect was taken.

FIFPro, an organization that handles pro football players in Eastern Europe, has done research that points out that 38.6% of players who have been approached to fix a match have been victims of violence. The British governing body of football, FA, has stated that gambling is not a significant issue. It appears a player’s and fan’s right to a fair game is neglected here. Additionally, statistically speaking, violence is prevalent within the gambling world of European football.

Is gambling in itself wrong and if it is not, when does gambling go wrong? How can these current issues be combatted?

-Scott Augenstein

It’s Time for Daily Fantasy Sports to Enter Europe

Article 1: http://calvinayre.com/2015/12/16/business/can-daily-fantasy-sports-crack-europe/

Article 2: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-06/fanduel-prepares-to-take-its-games-to-europe

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) has taken the United States by storm over the past couple of years. If you have ever watched an NFL game, you have seen ads by Draft Kings or FanDuel-the top two providers of the service. This is because part of their success has come from their ability to shell out cash in the form of advisements to generate curiosity from viewers. The Seattle Times reports that Draft Kings and FanDuel spent a combined $200 Million this 2015 NFL Season on advertisements which enough to get them in the top 10 spenders list. (Seattle Times) While there has been extreme popularity amongst sports fans for DFS, regulating bodies are starting to come down hard with regulations to ban the sites. This is why I believe it is the perfect time for DFS to enter Europe. The articles mention that Europe has long had a association with gambling/betting and sports that the United States has not had. There are many established companies in Europe that offer sports gambling services, but there is nothing that deals with DFS-style gameplay.

There are two major reasons I believe DFS will eventually find success in Europe. The first is their ability to spend outrageous amounts of money on advertisements and promotions. European football has proven it is a machine that needs the oil of giant corporations’ money to continue running. These companies keep paying because they see the benefits of having a giant global audience seeing their brand. DFS will fit in just fine in this sense. Second, the first article mentions there are 3.6 million people signed up for the Barclay’s premier fantasy league alone. The same way the American fantasy football markets transitioned into the DFS markets, so too will the European fantasy football markets.

What do you think about DFS in Europe? Will it be a million dollar success or a disastrous flop? For what reasons?

-Cameron Price

ATP Match Fixing with Novak Djokovic

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jan/18/novak-djokovic-match-fixing-tennis-australian-open

This article, from January 18^th of this year, details how Novak Djokovic was apparently approached and offered $200,000 USD to lose a match in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2006. While apparently the man with the offer never got all the way to speak with Novak himself, he was able to get the offer through to someone on Novak’s “team.” I have watched Djokovic play for years now and through all of the interviews and miscellaneous face time I have been able to watch of him, he seems like a genuine person with high regard for the integrity of the game. His comments in the interview attached to this article fit right along with how I have seen him carry himself on and off the court. Now that Novak is the world’s number one player, it seems as though it would be a bad idea for match fixers to try and get someone of Djokovic’s status to throw a match. Too much of his matches are critically analyzed and watched by millions, which might make fixing actions too obvious.

But for someone like Daniel Kollerer, who the article also interviews, his lack of prominence could have made him a prime target for match fixers. Kollerer is serving a lifetime ban from tennis for match fixing. He said that hundreds of players are approached to potentially throw matches and that he personally had offers in multiple tournaments. This really made me think that match fixing could be a much larger problem than I had previously thought.

Novak Djokovic being approached in 2006 to lose a match makes much more sense then it would today as he was not yet the star that he is now. How prevalent could match fixing possibly be for those that are not the biggest names in the sport. At the non-grand slam events in matches where two non-ranked opponents square off, could match fixing be this critical of a problem that has thus far gone under the radar?

-Cobey Koretz