In the black hole world of sports, tennis has come to occupy a dominant position among various forms of corruption, namely match-fixing and mafia movements for profit related to gambling. The last operation by the police … This incident occurred in four countries on October 14th, and 16 people were arrested in France, Romania, Bulgaria, and Japan, with Spain as the center of the investigation. All three are professional tennis players, but their names are not yet known.
National Police operations have revealed a complex system that provides important information. benefit the mafia And it was backed by sophisticated logistics, state-of-the-art satellite dishes, cutting-edge software, and identity theft.
For many years, doping has been the primary focus of concern among sports authorities. However, match-fixing and illegal gambling have gained attention and pose the biggest threat to the integrity of the competition. In Spain, the National Police’s Sports and Gambling Integrity Unit (Cenpida) is allocating increasing efforts and resources to investigating sports corruption. “Cooperation with the international justice and police community is becoming increasingly close and tight.” “This is a global battle,” say investigators.
The international raid stemmed from an investigation into UDEV in connection with match-fixing table tennis matches at competitions in Brazil to make money in gambling dens, so-called gambling dens. Operation Mursal.
Criminals in the Musal Conspiracy focused their efforts on recruiting young athletes, promising them financial benefits in exchange for changing the circumstances or outcome of matches, or for them to win. As the sources consulted by ABC explain, the common pattern is always the same. “These are players who have financial or personal problems and are offered an easy way out of their difficulties instead of participating in match-fixing. “These are people who need money to attend tournaments and pay for hotels, transportation and flights.”
Researchers say table tennis is one of the riskiest sports in gambling schemes. It’s much easier to agree on one person who is half of the equation than it is to agree on an entire football, basketball, or handball team.
The tennis players scouted by the criminal network who were arrested last October were second-level players who were “consistently ranked well below 100 in the ATP and typically participated in lower-category tournaments.”
Challenger and the future
They are challengers or future tournaments. The challengers are at the ATP 250 level and above, following the ATP 500, Masters 1,000, and four Grand Slams. Granted by Challenger 250 points Usually, players from 100th to 700th place participate. Futures is the lowest level of the professional circuit, with tennis players ranked above 700th.
«That’s where the recruitment of tennis players takes place. And from that moment on, players go all the way. Remember, you can bet on everything in tennis: points, games, sets, tie-breaks and matches. Just like in soccer: corner kicks, yellow cards, sending offs, throw-ins, goals, results, matches, championships. “Each gambling house has its own list,” the source found out.
The network, which was disarmed in October, used a trick long known to law enforcement authorities.How long does it take for images to arrive? From the television to the gambling hall screen, this is the same change you would see on someone’s device during a sports broadcast (approximately 20 or 30 seconds). In this section, matches were held and stakes were guaranteed, so the mafia acted for financial gain.
A disjointed network captured the signal before it was edited. According to the source, “They had large satellite dishes and once the results were in, they used powerful computer software to place bets online. They had very sophisticated technology. They created accounts to place bets and used logistics based on multiple identities of third parties they had previously usurped.” They also used “bots” You can place automatic bets all over the world with the outcome already known.
collaboration
Financial transactions revealed that the network operated primarily from Bulgaria with the help of intermediaries from other countries. Investigators found that payments were made to French intermediaries from Spain, Romania and Bulgaria, and then transferred to French tennis players. “A large amount of police information was obtained, which was forwarded to the national police forces of many other countries,” a source close to the investigation said.
most of the bets set loss Or a match between the same players.
The agent discovered that some bettors had created accounts just for specific bets and that they were being made in different countries at the same time. This was inconsistent with how the match was unfolding at the time of the bet.
As a result, three tennis players with French licenses were arrested in a case prosecuted through the Marseille public prosecutor’s office. An initial estimate of the profit that the plot can derive from this corrupt network is 800,000 euros.
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