Tennis is the most popular sport with punters after horse racing
and soccer, the general counsel for the internet betting exchange
Betfair said on Monday.
David O'Reilly told a seminar on Integrity on Sport hosted by
the London law firm Charles Russell that betting on tennis was
particularly popular in central and eastern Europe where there was
no culture of sports gambling.
"The key factors are technology and television," O'Reilly said.
"It's truly global. Tennis betting is the third most important
after horse racing and soccer."
Last August, Betfair voided all wagers on a second-round match
at the Sopot Open in Poland between defending champion Nikolay
Davydenko and Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello because of what is
said were irregular betting patterns.
Davydenko won the first set but then retired with a foot injury
when his opponent, then ranked about 80 places lower, was leading
2-6 6-3 2-1.
The Russian, ranked fourth in the world, again denied this month
being involved in match-fixing or illegal gambling. The governing
body of men's tennis (ATP) is investigating the match.
"This was probably the most extreme case of betting patterns
that we have ever seen," O'Reilly said. "If customers feel the
sport isn't clean then we lose their business."
O'Reilly said there was no formula for detecting suspicious
betting patterns.
"It's not a science, it depends on numerous factors," he said.
"It depends on how the market is reacting. It's a combined art and
science, it's not possible to be definite."
(Agencies via China Daily January 23, 2008)