Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,825
The social media accounts of Australia’s top cricketers have become a frontline in the war against match-fixing, with illegal betting syndicates targeting the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp accounts of Test and Twenty20 stars to elicit inside information.
All members of Australia’s touring squad to Bangladesh have been instructed to screen shot suspicious online approaches from unfamiliar accounts — particularly those sent from the subcontinent or Middle East countries where illegal betting on cricket is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise — and provide them to anti-corruption authorities to help detect and prosecute criminal gambling rings.
Information about suspicious approaches, once obtained by Cricket Australia’s integrity team, can be cross-checked with the *intelligence holdings of the International Cricket Committee and other national cricket boards, the federal government’s National *Integrity of Sport Unit, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Com*mission and Interpol.
Cricket Australia’s senior manager for integrity, Iain Roy, says *although many of the approaches to players are benign, the ICC has a growing data base of suspect social media accounts and mobile phone numbers that has been used to *expose criminal operators.
“Increasingly, we are getting players having conversations with us about these ubiquitous online approaches,’’ he told The Australian. “Players in Australia are really clued in. If someone from the UAE, someone from Pakistan or someone from India sends them a WhatsApp message, they will just screen-shot it and send it on to us and we put it into our intelligence.’’
The cricketer’s active response to the threat of match-fixing is part of a broader shift in international sport, where athletes are expected not only to resist approaches by suspicious parties but report them to anti-corruption authorities.
“That is the most important thing,’’ said Severin Moritzer, chief executive of the Vienna-based *Association for Protecting the *Integrity of Sport. “It doesn’t help to reject an offer and not report it. That is one of the core elements we cover in our education seminars when we talk to athletes.’’
Australia’s touring squad to Bangladesh was briefed on the risks posed by offshore bookies and criminal networks — and their responsibility to report suspicious approaches — at the training camp in Darwin last month.
Mr Roy said cricket’s anti-*corruption measures were strongly focused on the shortest form of the game, with Twenty20 competitions such as Australia’s BBL *attracting the most interest on legal and illegal betting markets.
The Indian Premier League, the Bangladesh Premier League, the Pakistan Super League and the Ram Slam in South Africa have all been hit with match and spot-fixing scandals, leading to the suspension of nine international cricketers on corruption charges.
Twenty20 batsmen David Hussey said suspicious social media approaches prompted him to close most of his social media accounts. “That is part of the reason I got off Facebook and all other social media bar Twitter,’’ he said.
“I didn’t want these untoward approaches.’’
Hussey said the approaches, which he received in 2008 during his involvement in the newly formed IPL, included requests for information about pitch conditions, team selections and whether his team intended to bowl or bat. Figures provided to Cricket Australia by Australia’s licensed corporate bookmakers show that the growth of legal betting on BBL matches has reached a plateau after years of strong growth. Total betting on all matches last summer was $128 million, about $3.6m a match and little changed from the previous year. In the 2014-15 summer, the corresponding figure was $72m. This does not include turnover on betting exchanges such as Betfair, which distort the true size of the legal betting market.
Interpol estimates that for every dollar bet legally on a cricket match, about 10 are punted on the black market. This means conservatively $1 billion is likely to be bet on this BBL series.
Cricket Australia’s defence against these integrity threats, particularly to Big Bash cricket matches, is multifaceted. As well as telling players to report any suspicious approaches, it conducts background checks on overseas players contracted to play in the BBL and employs observers at all matches to detect people paid by provide information quicker than bookmakers can adjust their odds.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...868558&usg=AFQjCNFlry0j7NJqkXBcIQgzbvE04yjgBg
All members of Australia’s touring squad to Bangladesh have been instructed to screen shot suspicious online approaches from unfamiliar accounts — particularly those sent from the subcontinent or Middle East countries where illegal betting on cricket is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise — and provide them to anti-corruption authorities to help detect and prosecute criminal gambling rings.
Information about suspicious approaches, once obtained by Cricket Australia’s integrity team, can be cross-checked with the *intelligence holdings of the International Cricket Committee and other national cricket boards, the federal government’s National *Integrity of Sport Unit, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Com*mission and Interpol.
Cricket Australia’s senior manager for integrity, Iain Roy, says *although many of the approaches to players are benign, the ICC has a growing data base of suspect social media accounts and mobile phone numbers that has been used to *expose criminal operators.
“Increasingly, we are getting players having conversations with us about these ubiquitous online approaches,’’ he told The Australian. “Players in Australia are really clued in. If someone from the UAE, someone from Pakistan or someone from India sends them a WhatsApp message, they will just screen-shot it and send it on to us and we put it into our intelligence.’’
The cricketer’s active response to the threat of match-fixing is part of a broader shift in international sport, where athletes are expected not only to resist approaches by suspicious parties but report them to anti-corruption authorities.
“That is the most important thing,’’ said Severin Moritzer, chief executive of the Vienna-based *Association for Protecting the *Integrity of Sport. “It doesn’t help to reject an offer and not report it. That is one of the core elements we cover in our education seminars when we talk to athletes.’’
Australia’s touring squad to Bangladesh was briefed on the risks posed by offshore bookies and criminal networks — and their responsibility to report suspicious approaches — at the training camp in Darwin last month.
Mr Roy said cricket’s anti-*corruption measures were strongly focused on the shortest form of the game, with Twenty20 competitions such as Australia’s BBL *attracting the most interest on legal and illegal betting markets.
The Indian Premier League, the Bangladesh Premier League, the Pakistan Super League and the Ram Slam in South Africa have all been hit with match and spot-fixing scandals, leading to the suspension of nine international cricketers on corruption charges.
Twenty20 batsmen David Hussey said suspicious social media approaches prompted him to close most of his social media accounts. “That is part of the reason I got off Facebook and all other social media bar Twitter,’’ he said.
“I didn’t want these untoward approaches.’’
Hussey said the approaches, which he received in 2008 during his involvement in the newly formed IPL, included requests for information about pitch conditions, team selections and whether his team intended to bowl or bat. Figures provided to Cricket Australia by Australia’s licensed corporate bookmakers show that the growth of legal betting on BBL matches has reached a plateau after years of strong growth. Total betting on all matches last summer was $128 million, about $3.6m a match and little changed from the previous year. In the 2014-15 summer, the corresponding figure was $72m. This does not include turnover on betting exchanges such as Betfair, which distort the true size of the legal betting market.
Interpol estimates that for every dollar bet legally on a cricket match, about 10 are punted on the black market. This means conservatively $1 billion is likely to be bet on this BBL series.
Cricket Australia’s defence against these integrity threats, particularly to Big Bash cricket matches, is multifaceted. As well as telling players to report any suspicious approaches, it conducts background checks on overseas players contracted to play in the BBL and employs observers at all matches to detect people paid by provide information quicker than bookmakers can adjust their odds.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...868558&usg=AFQjCNFlry0j7NJqkXBcIQgzbvE04yjgBg
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