By John Considine
Larceny Games is a book I’m currently reading. The book’s subtitle is “Sports Gambling, Game Fixing and the FBI” and it gives a better description of what the book is about. Last week’s events in Britain made me revisit the chapter called “International Game Fixing”. While the chapter includes a section on tennis it is predominately about soccer.
The only reference to English club football in the chapter is to the 2012 interview given to Norwegian television by Southampton’s Claus Lundekvam. In the interview Lundekvam claimed that while no games were thrown, spot-fixing in the Premier League occurred “nearly every week”. Other than this reference, top-tier English club football escapes relatively likely.
While Larceny Games is written by Brian Tuohy, the material on soccer depends heavily on Declan Hill and his book The Fix: Soccer and Organised Crime. Hill details his infiltration of a group of game-fixers on his blog (here).
It seems a little surprising that Tuohy did not consider more deeply the significance of the English football example. It would be fair to say that gambling is an integral part of British culture. I’d guess that it would be a small proportion of the British population that never put a wager on something like the Aintree Grand National. It would seem that gambling and a lack of top-tier match-fixing can exist side-by-side in Britain (despite the Lundekvam interview).
The English example should have caused Tuohy to wonder about the link between a gambling culture and match-fixing in China. Tuohy says that “One of the reasons match fixing is so prevalent in China is that gambling is an integral part of the Oriental culture, something not merely written off as a vice.” Tuohy does suggest the size of the betting market in Hong Kong is also significant. Quoting from Sam Skolnik’s book High Stakes, Tuohy points out how
gambling in Hong Kong takes in about $12bn and is the largest taxpayer in Hong Kong. In 2010 Hong Kong had 0.1% of the world’s population but it made up 3.3% of the world’s total online betting revenues. However, one might question if it is purely as a result of culture.
In the relevant chapter of Larceny Games, Tuohy documents the range of betting scandals that have hit the game of soccer. What makes reading the chapter slightly depressing is that one remembers most of them, e.g. the Italian/Juventus investigation, this year’s Europol revelations, the investigations in Greece, etc. Seeing them all listed is a sobering sight. Tuohy highlights things we'd rather not think too hard about.
While Larceny Games is written by Brian Tuohy, the material on soccer depends heavily on Declan Hill and his book The Fix: Soccer and Organised Crime. Hill details his infiltration of a group of game-fixers on his blog (here).
It seems a little surprising that Tuohy did not consider more deeply the significance of the English football example. It would be fair to say that gambling is an integral part of British culture. I’d guess that it would be a small proportion of the British population that never put a wager on something like the Aintree Grand National. It would seem that gambling and a lack of top-tier match-fixing can exist side-by-side in Britain (despite the Lundekvam interview).
The English example should have caused Tuohy to wonder about the link between a gambling culture and match-fixing in China. Tuohy says that “One of the reasons match fixing is so prevalent in China is that gambling is an integral part of the Oriental culture, something not merely written off as a vice.” Tuohy does suggest the size of the betting market in Hong Kong is also significant. Quoting from Sam Skolnik’s book High Stakes, Tuohy points out how
gambling in Hong Kong takes in about $12bn and is the largest taxpayer in Hong Kong. In 2010 Hong Kong had 0.1% of the world’s population but it made up 3.3% of the world’s total online betting revenues. However, one might question if it is purely as a result of culture.
In the relevant chapter of Larceny Games, Tuohy documents the range of betting scandals that have hit the game of soccer. What makes reading the chapter slightly depressing is that one remembers most of them, e.g. the Italian/Juventus investigation, this year’s Europol revelations, the investigations in Greece, etc. Seeing them all listed is a sobering sight. Tuohy highlights things we'd rather not think too hard about.
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