The Cricket Match-Fixing Scandal

[Wexnident]

Thing is, they looked for those who match fixed cricket matches only to find something way bigger imo. Nothing new about match-fixing, but I think this is rather big for it to have been ignored at that point? I mean, if the broker claims to be able to influence that much amount of tournaments, then the legal team behind the tournament should have done something already, that is unless they're all in it together. Not really that updated on crickets, but was this even investigated properly? After all the article is pretty old.

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[ralle14]

Sat through the entire video and it was a treat to watch, I remember betting regularly on cricket matches few years back but never had an idea that it could be rigged through their own ways.

no wonder that this is happening in all sports ?

Just like what they said in the video, they do it because there's money to be made and some tournaments are less regulated than the others then at the same time sportsbooks are offering odds on those matches. Recently there's some investigation going on in the esports scene as well where one of the players got exposed due to some disagreements with his previous organization.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Sports bodies such as FIFA and FIH took great care to eradicate the curse of match fixing with their respective sports. But the ICC is not very successful in repeating the same with cricket. One reason may be the presence of businessmen and politicians with various cricket boards. These people don't care about the sport and just want to make as much money as possible. The ICC have banned players for life, for taking part in match fixing. But their treatment is much more mild, when powerful people are involved. Remember what happened when the CSK management was caught in 2015, along with the RR bosses. The team was allowed back in to the IPL after just two years. Why it is always life ban for the players and just two years suspension for the franchises?

[zanezane]

I feel like this sort of thing is becoming more common over the years in professional sports. Before 20 years ago this sort of thing would have been unheard of. Shoeless Joe Jackson is still known 100 years later for pulling this sort of stunt. I’m not sure if there’s any way to stop this from happening. Even if they paid the players more the criminals would just target the officials. It’s a serious problem that undermines sports as well as gamblers.

Teach our future generations the value of integrity and not being shadowed over by corruption, we will slowly be able to destroy the mentality and the business of rigging sports. Also, if we put a more sharper fangs on laws that are prosecuting game fixing/rigging then we will reduce people trying to do it since they know how serious it is.

[madnessteat]

Interesting information to think about.

Sports games have long been a business, and as you know the guys with big money like to control everything. So I am not at all surprised by match-fixing. Moreover, I believe that this kind of manipulation takes place in all countries.

[Pmalek]

International cricket involving the test nations is mostly free from match fixing now. It would have happened a decade ago, but not now. The ICC has strict monitoring mechanism in place and this prevents any sort of match fixing from happening in international matches. But I can't guarantee the same, with matches involving smaller teams such as UAE and Zimbabwe. In fact multiple members of the UAE national team were suspended recently, for their involvement in match fixing.

Their suspensions show you that the game of Cricket is not as fair as you thought it is. Even if all indicators point towards a segment of the game being fixed, it still has to be proven and that is not necessarily an easy thing to do. In theory, the whole game can be fair besides the segment when one batsman is out to play. Players can underperform even without being bribed. Huge bets placed on a particular batsman and run total is a good indication, but still not definite proof that there is match fixing involved.

Maybe an oath and a salary more than enough to avoid this bit of cheating.

I think I understood what you are trying to say. When the documentary talked about how cricket groundsmen get bribed for manipulating the pitch, it was said that the match fixing fee they receive for one match is equal to 8 years of wages they earn by doing their regular job. And that's the problem. They are paid too little, and hence the possibility of getting involved in illegal business ventures increases dramatically. 

It's always interesting reading about these sort of scandals and it is possible that I overlooked it, but you seem to be making a false allegation that the English team was involved.

The member of the gambling syndicate tells the reporter in the video that 3 players from the English side were bribed and will manipulate the score. 

I have no doubt that the English players have the capacity to cheat, but reading that $60,000 was all it took set alarm bells off. Considering all the people that would need to be paid with that money, it doesn't seem to be worth anywhere near the risk for such a low amount from a professional cricketer perspective.

The $60.000 was the money the reporter was supposed to pay to receive the tip about the fix, nothing else. I don't think it was mentioned in the video how much bribe money the players allegedly received. Also, the entire team wouldn't know about the fix. Only 3 players were allegedly involved. Therefore, the money isn't divided equally amongst all players. The way it works is they usually make a deal with a player. Let's say the deal is you will get $100.000 for batting badly, and that's it. The entire match is not fixed, only the segment when that particular player bats. It would be equal to bribing a football player who takes free kicks to always hit the wall when he shoots. But imagine you can bet on the outcome of the freekick. You aren't fixing the match, and your team might still win, you are just shooting like shit on purpose.   

Also, the sum of $60,000 being paid by the Al Jazeera reporter seems unusually high in order to prove a story as legitimate? Did the reporter or source of funds end up taking advantage of the fraudulent betting knowledge to make the money back?

No, of course not, they just followed the game and pretended they made a huge profit from it. The deal was the money would be given to an intermediary and released in their next meeting after the reporter (who pretended to be a businessman) received the tips and made the bets. The segment they received the tip for played out exactly as the syndicate member said it would. At the next meeting, the reporter said who he was, they brought out the cameras, and revealed the whole thing.

[KTChampions]

Interesting information to think about.

Sports games have long been a business, and as you know the guys with big money like to control everything. So I am not at all surprised by match-fixing. Moreover, I believe that this kind of manipulation takes place in all countries.

But for those who are a shareholder of clubs, sponsors of leagues, etc. that is, being a guy with really big money is unprofitable foul play since it diminishes interest in the sport if such facts are revealed. Control at this level is achieved in other ways - the rules of budgeting and other restrictions for the participants of the competition more or less equalize their chances and the audience gets an interesting (equal) rivalry. Of course, this applies to team competitions.

[Taskford]

Interesting information to think about.

Sports games have long been a business, and as you know the guys with big money like to control everything. So I am not at all surprised by match-fixing. Moreover, I believe that this kind of manipulation takes place in all countries.

This kind of cheating happens around the world since there's a big money involve their, this kind of doings makes the sports boring. I hope government will file a bill which give more heavy penalties to the person involve on this doings since if they let this happen again and again then then provably people will lost interest to watch them.

[Silberman]

I was stunned when the syndicate members explained that they have the power to influence 60-70% of the international test matches. Cricket is a popular sports in many parts of the world with millions of fans attending and watching those matches. Imagine sitting there, having paid for an expensive ticket, only to realize that the players you cheer on are bribed to underperform?

The organization has no intentions to stop. One of the organizers said he doesn't want to do it once and leave. He wants to set up a huge network to be able to influence the majority of matches in many parts of the world. 

Unfortunately this is the sad reality of many sports, the mafia can be extremely effective to get cooperation from athletes, after all if they do not cooperate they can always go against them or their family and most people will take the money even if they do not want, this thread should be a great eye opener, rigging games is thought to be something that happens occasionally but as we see here there is a great chance that this is way more common than what we think.

[just_Alice]

Interesting information to think about.

Sports games have long been a business, and as you know the guys with big money like to control everything. So I am not at all surprised by match-fixing. Moreover, I believe that this kind of manipulation takes place in all countries.

This kind of cheating happens around the world since there's a big money involve their, this kind of doings makes the sports boring. I hope government will file a bill which give more heavy penalties to the person involve on this doings since if they let this happen again and again then then provably people will lost interest to watch them.

In some cases people are sentenced to several years in prison for match-fixing, add to that various disqualifications and we'll see that the penalties are severe enough to stop this unlawful and shameful activity. Only it's enough for people with brains. There's always a moron who will still be doing it.

[Pmalek]

For those who had able to know those information then they would just simply shut off their mouths or also being bribe on not to talk about on  what they do know this is why
its common that those rigging incidents wont really go into public until it would be bust out by someone who cant really be handled on not to speak about it.

Those cricket match fixers didn't share any information with the general public either. But they did cooperate with 20-30 wealthy businessmen who were willing to pay the syndicate plenty of money for insider information about fixed match segments. They could have probably stayed under the radar for longer had they not done that, but the potential to earn even more money made them not care that much.

...despite all these revelations by the channel i have not seen any charges against anyone. Did the ICC investigate these issues because i cannot see any article that says about charges against anyone and these are serious allegation.

In one part of the video interview, the investigator asks his point of contact, what about the ICC. The syndicate member replies something like: If you have enough money, you can do anything. You can interpret that however you want. To me it sounds like there is a price that can be paid even to the ICC to turn a blind eye and not look in your direction. 

I'm not a cricket specialist, but this whole story looks fantastic. As far as I understand, no one has direct evidence and no criminal cases have been initiated, right? I do not believe in the reality of the events described by journalists. By the way, if they really paid someone to find out the result of the match fixing, perhaps they were simply deceived (the result that was predicted was obtained for natural reasons) by a fraudster who invented all these stories about the syndicate.

I think there are too many coincidences for it not be real. Players and ex-players were certainly involved because some of them even appear in the video. At one meeting, the reporter wanted assurances that the players would do what the syndicate asks them too. And one professional player who sits at the table tells the reporter that's the whole point. We will fix the matches the way the scenarios have been laid out because we are all interested in the same thing, making money.   

[Saisher]

 
 
 
Watch the rest of the documentary where the syndicate members provide details of how they plan to fix an international cricket tournament in Dubai with members of all teams owned and controlled by the mafia organization.
 
Have you heard of this betting scandal before, and what is your opinion of all this? 

Not only in Dubai and Sri Lanka, but it also exists in many countries where there are corrupt officials and dishonest players unless there are whistleblowers, they can always get away, what we read and documented are those exposed but there are many fixed games that are not exposed and those who participated made huge money, there's a lot of money top be made in game fixing.

[Sithara007]

Not only in Dubai and Sri Lanka, but it also exists in many countries where there are corrupt officials and dishonest players unless there are whistleblowers, they can always get away, what we read and documented are those exposed but there are many fixed games that are not exposed and those who participated made huge money, there's a lot of money top be made in game fixing.

Emirates such as Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are considered as main operating grounds of the cricket match fixing mafias. And this is one of the reasons why the BCCI decided not to stage any triangular or quadrilateral tournaments there anymore. But now the fixing has spread to other parts of the world as well. And ever since people like Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar got power within the BCCI/ICC, there has been an increase in such incidents.

[Pmalek]

I’m not sure if there’s any way to stop this from happening. Even if they paid the players more the criminals would just target the officials.

The players in cricket are already paid good salaries. The issue is that they found other ways to manipulate the scores in their favor, like bribing groundsmen to make the pitch fit for either batsmen or bowlers. The groundsmen couldn't care less, the money they get for manipulating just one match is equal to years and years of working and maintaining the pitch.

Unfortunately this is the sad reality of many sports, the mafia can be extremely effective to get cooperation from athletes, after all if they do not cooperate they can always go against them or their family and most people will take the money even if they do not want...

The problem with taking a bribe, is that they won't stop after only one time. If you help them make money once, they'll have you by your balls and force you to comply to their demands all the time, otherwise they'll expose you, destroy your career, and have you banned. Some players probably don't think that far ahead, and think why not do it once for an unimportant tournament. After doing it once, it turns into a nightmare. 

[Johnyz]

I'm not a cricket specialist, but this whole story looks fantastic. As far as I understand, no one has direct evidence and no criminal cases have been initiated, right? I do not believe in the reality of the events described by journalists. By the way, if they really paid someone to find out the result of the match fixing, perhaps they were simply deceived (the result that was predicted was obtained for natural reasons) by a fraudster who invented all these stories about the syndicate.

Match fixing exists in most of the sports but since i follow cricket more, there are many incidents of match fixing in this sport. There are evidences for such  fixing also but not all of them have been dealt with. Some players have lost their career because of this match fixing while some managed to get away with it.

Match fixing for the money will always exist because they are talking about money, and standing there so as long as there’s money involve, game fixing can happen anytime. Recently we have issues in our local sports about game fixing, and the team and the players are being punished for that without further investigation, the sports committee should be more strict on this one not unless they are also part of this which is also possible to happen.

[KTChampions]

I'm not a cricket specialist, but this whole story looks fantastic. As far as I understand, no one has direct evidence and no criminal cases have been initiated, right? I do not believe in the reality of the events described by journalists. By the way, if they really paid someone to find out the result of the match fixing, perhaps they were simply deceived (the result that was predicted was obtained for natural reasons) by a fraudster who invented all these stories about the syndicate.

I think there are too many coincidences for it not be real. Players and ex-players were certainly involved because some of them even appear in the video. At one meeting, the reporter wanted assurances that the players would do what the syndicate asks them too. And one professional player who sits at the table tells the reporter that's the whole point. We will fix the matches the way the scenarios have been laid out because we are all interested in the same thing, making money.   

These are all words, guesses, assumptions and coincidences. If there are facts, then where are the criminal cases and court decisions? As for coincidences, there are a lot of them in life and often they seem incredible. Even in individual sports matches, something happens that is remembered for decades (like the loss of Bavaria to Manchester United in the Champions League final on the last minutes).

[ene1980]

Emirates such as Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are considered as main operating grounds of the cricket match fixing mafias. And this is one of the reasons why the BCCI decided not to stage any triangular or quadrilateral tournaments there anymore. But now the fixing has spread to other parts of the world as well. And ever since people like Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar got power within the BCCI/ICC, there has been an increase in such incidents.

So you think that match fixing is done with the knowledge from the higher officials, i think it is highly unlikely. BCCI conducted the IPL in UAE which included Emirates such as Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi and if there is fixing it cannot be isolated to one region. Pakistan players were caught when they were involved in spot fixing in a match in England and the rules are strict as these players has to risk their career and the fortune they can make through cricket.

[magneto]

I saw this documentary quite a while ago. Not shocking to say the least.

A lot of these smaller leagues are created for the sole purpose of enriching the founder of the leagues as well as insiders who have access to the players. And the easiest way to do that is to arrange match fixes with players and teams directly.

Even tests and ODIs can be fixed, although probably nowhere near the scale of the fixing that is going on in domestic T20s. Poorly paid international cricketers are notorious for match fixing scandals in the past (SA, Pakistan, etc.)

[pakhitheboss]

Whenever I hear match fixing in cricket I remember Hansie Cronje, the ex south african captain. What a good batsman he was but everything got ruined after it was found that he was part of a big match fixing syndicate. Unfortunately he died in a air crash before big names could have come out.

[mersal]

In Indian Premier Leagle (IPL) also it happened and two teams were banned for 2 years for their owners involved in wrong doings like fixing or something like that.And still people claims that the match-fixing happening in IPL and the whole cricket community but it doesn't look like any longer after 2018 and later in my opinion.