Controversy
In October 2008, SBOBET was asked to turn over any evidence they might have on the possible match fixing scandal in The Football Association (FA) championship between Norwich City and Derby County. SBOBET denied the FA's request, deeming it was "excessive" and would be a breach of customer privacy [19] Derby County won the game 2–1. In the end, the FA found no evidence that match fixing had taken place. [20]
On 24 September 2009, two Bulgarian news agencies Novinite.com and 24 Chasa Daily published articles that wrongly suggested that SBOBET was responsible for fixing the football match between Levski and CSKA Sofia. The two agencies subsequently published correction articles, stating that SBOBET was not involved in any match-fixing scams, and apologized to SBOBET for publishing the untrue information. [21] [22]
In October 2009, representatives of the Premier League criticised SBOBET for offering live betting on academy football games, maintaining that children and youth activities should not be exposed by international gambling organisations. [23] The bookmaker subsequently suspended betting on academy games and expressed its intention to seek clarification from the Premier League and the Professional Footballers' Association about which football markets it should be allowed to offer. [24]
In October 2014, Singapore Parliament passed the Remote Gambling Bill to ban the entire spectrum of remote gambling, including internet, telephone, interactive television, radio and any other communication technology. [25] The bill will be effective to individual gamblers, facilitators, runners and operators. Although the new law will come into operation from 2 February 2015, SBOBET states that it has a policy not to take bets from countries where making or accepting bets is illegal but the overwhelming majority of its customers come from mainland China where betting is illegal and betting customers often face arrest. New accounts from Singapore IP address are not accepted and there is no Singapore in the drop-down list in the sign-up page, though these can be easily by-passed through the use of a VPN. All accounts will be closed from 1 February 2015, which will comply with the new law. With effect from 12 February 2015, access to the SBOBET is blocked. [26]
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, including receiving bribes from bookmakers or sports bettors, and blackmail. Competitors may also intentionally perform poorly to gain a future advantage, such as a better draft pick or to face an easier opponent in a later round of competition. A player might also play poorly to rig a handicap system.
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.
Abbas Saad is a soccer manager and former player. Born in Lebanon, Saad played for the Australia national team.
Sportingbet is a British online gambling operator, owned by Entain plc. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index prior to its acquisition by GVC holdings.
bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as Betandwin, is an Austrian online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and Belize; and Germany, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom in Europe. Bwin offered sports betting, poker, casino games, and soft and skill games, with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. Bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in Vienna, Stockholm, and Gibraltar.
Betdaq is an Irish gambling company founded in 2000. It operates the world's second largest online betting exchange. Its product offering also includes sports betting and online casino. Business operations are conducted from its headquarters in Dublin, alongside a satellite office in Gibraltar.
Betfred is a bookmaker based in the United Kingdom, founded by Fred Done. It was first established as a single betting shop in Ordsall, Salford, in 1967. Its turnover in 2004 was reported to be more than £3.5 billion, having risen from £550 million in 2003 and has continued to grow to over £10 billion in 2018-2019. Following a drop in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the Covid pandemic, published turnover for the year to September 2022 was £8.8 billion.
The 2009–10 season was Cardiff City F.C.'s 83rd season in The Football League since joining in 1920. The season was also the club's first in the Cardiff City Stadium, replacing their former ground Ninian Park, which had been used by the club for 99 years. Cardiff had their most successful season in the Football League Championship finishing 4th making the play-offs for the Premier League. Cardiff narrowly missed out on promotion after losing 3–2 to Blackpool in the Final.
The 2009 European football betting scandal was an attempt to influence the outcome of professional association football matches in Europe, and to defraud the gambling industry by betting on the results. The investigation centres on around 200 fixtures, including domestic league games in nine European countries: Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria. It also involved twelve qualifying matches in the UEFA Europa League and three in the UEFA Champions League. Peter Limacher, a spokesman for European football's governing body UEFA, described it as "the biggest match-fixing scandal ever to hit Europe."
Celton Manx Limited is a company that provides e-gaming products; it provides a platform for sports betting, live casino games, race betting and animated flash games. It is headquartered in and regulated by the Government of the Isle of Man, British Isles.
Spot-fixing is illegal activity in a sport in which a specific aspect of a game, unrelated to the final result but upon which a betting market exists, is fixed in an attempt to ensure a certain result in a proposition bet. Examples include something as minor as timing a no ball or wide delivery in cricket or timing the first throw-in or corner in association football.
The Liga Stavok is a Russian gambling company. It was established in Russia in 2008. Activities of this betting company are aimed at developing betting business in Russia, supporting national sports, and creating new spheres of entertainment.
Dafabet is an online betting site. The company was founded on 7 November 2004 and is headquartered in Makati, Philippines.
12BET is an online gaming brand that specializes in providing sports betting and casino products and services in multiple languages across European and Asia Pacific markets. 12BET is a well-known brand in Asia while it ranking 17th globally according to eGaming Review Magazine's Annual Power 50Ranking.
Sportradar AG is a multinational corporation with headquarters in St. Gallen, Switzerland, that collects and analyzes sports data for bookmakers, national and international sports federations, and media companies. As of 2022, the company has 35 offices in 19 countries around the world, including New York City, Las Vegas, London, Trondheim, Munich, Ljubljana, Sydney, Montevideo, and Singapore.
Match fixing related to gambling is a problem in many sports. According to Sportradar, a company that monitors the integrity of sports events on behalf of sports federations, as many as 1% of the matches they monitor are likely to be fixed.
K8 is a network of international online casinos and online gambling companies, with over 15 million users. K8 has offices in almost 50 countries in the world; including the United Kingdom, The Philippines and Vietnam. K8 promotes itself by its sponsorships of UK premier league teams, West Bromwich Albion FC and Manchester City, and German football team FC Schalke 04.
1xBet is an online gambling company licensed by Curaçao eGaming License. It was founded in 2007 and registered in Cyprus. In 2019, they experienced considerable growth, briefly sponsoring Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC. The organisation operates a franchise business model.
