In the world of sports black holes, tennis has come to occupy a dominant place in a variety of scams: match-fixing linked to betting and mafia moves to extract benefits. Latest police operation … It developed on October 14 in four countries, with the investigation center being in Spain, and it resulted in 16 detainees in France, Romania, Bulgaria, and our country. Three professional tennis players whose names are still unknown.
The actions of the National Police revealed a complex system that was of great importance Profits for the mafia They were supported by advanced logistics, modern satellite dishes, sophisticated software and identity theft.
Doping has for many years been the primary focus of attention among sports authorities. But match-fixing and illegal betting have taken center stage as the greatest threat to the integrity of competitions. In Spain, the Sports and Betting Integrity Unit (Cenpida) of the National Police is devoting more and more efforts and resources to investigating sports corruption. “Cooperation with the international judicial and police community is becoming more intense and close. “It’s a global battle,” says a source close to the investigation.
The origin of the international raid goes back to an investigation by UDEV regarding the manipulation of the results of table tennis matches in Brazilian competitions to make money in betting houses, the so-called Mersal operation.
The Mursal conspiracy criminals focused their activity on recruiting young athletes, promising them financial benefits in exchange for changing the game conditions, results, or allowing themselves to win. The common pattern is always the same, as sources consulted by ABC make clear. “They are players who are going through financial or personal problems and are offered an easy way out of their difficulties in exchange for participating in the manipulation. “These are people who need money to travel to tournaments, pay for their hotel, travel, and plane.”
According to researchers, table tennis is one of the riskiest sports in betting plans. It is much easier to agree on one person, half the equation, than to agree on an entire football, basketball or handball team.
The tennis players recruited by the criminal network who were arrested last October were second-level players, “always well below 100th place in the ATP, who usually participate in lower category tournaments.”
Challenger and the future
They are the competitor or future championships. The contenders are the level below the ATP 250, which follows the ATP 500, the Masters 1000 and the Grand Slams on the scale. Grant competitors 250 points Players ranked between 100 and 700 usually participate. Futures is the lowest level on the professional circuit, with tennis players ranked above 700.
“This is where tennis players are recruited. From that moment on, you can go as far as the player wants. Keep in mind that you can bet on everything on tennis, points, matches, sets, tie-breaks, and matches. Same as in football, corner kicks, yellow cards, sending offs, throw-ins, goals, results, matches, tournaments. Each betting house provides its own list.
The network that was disarmed in October used a trick long known to investigators: petard to which you link images From television to betting house screens, it is the same difference that is observed on everyone’s devices (about 20 or 30 seconds) in sports broadcasting. In this section, with the match held and the bet confirmed, the mafia acted in its economic interest.
The deconstructed network picked up the signal before it was released. According to sources, “They had large satellite dishes, and once they had the result, they bet online using powerful computer programs. They had very advanced technology. They used logistics that relied on multiple identities of previously usurped third parties with which they created accounts to place bets.” They also used robots. To place automatic bets around the world, already knowing the outcome.
cooperation
Financial transactions showed that the network operates mainly from Bulgaria with the help of intermediaries in other countries. Investigators discovered that people from Spain, Romania and Bulgaria made payments to French intermediaries who sent money to French tennis players. Investigative sources indicate that “much police intelligence was obtained and passed on to national police forces in several other countries.”
The blockade was tightened for some tennis players, as most bets were based on Losing a group Or match by the same players.
Agents discovered that some bettors only created accounts for specific bets and were placed simultaneously in different countries, which conflicted with the development of the match at the time of betting.
The result was the arrest of three French-licensed tennis players in a case pursued through the Marseille public prosecutor’s office. Preliminary estimates of the benefits that the conspiracy could reap from this corrupt network reach more than 800,000 euros.
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