Famous Sports Betting Scandals

The football world was shocked this week by revelations of match fixing in over 700 games around the world. Unfortunately, as most sports fans will know, this is by no means the first time that match fixing has been uncovered.

Most recently, badminton teams from South Korea, Indonesia and China were banned from the 2012 London Olympics for trying to lose in order to ensure a more favourable matchup in the next round.

Basketball fans will remember 2007 when referee Tim Donaghy was jailed for 15 months for betting on NBA games and providing inside information on player injuries and ref tendencies.
 

Horse racing has seen more than its fair share of scandals ranging from ringer jockeys and horses posing as amateurs to computer hackers changing Pick Six bets in the system used across the US.

At present there is controversy in Australia where jockey Damien Oliver has admitted to using an intermediary to bet on a rival jockey’s horse.

Finally tennis fans will remember when Betfair voided all wagers when it found irregular patterns after a match in 2007 when Nikolay Davydenko pulled out midway with an injury. Over $7 million had been bet on the game, more than double the amount bet on other matches that day.