tennis and gambling
 

Anyone following the recent tennis news?

Today's NYT has a story discussing ATP's efforts to combat gambling.

Among other things, the article recounts that:

"The players have volunteered their stories in the wake of an investigation of Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, the world’s No. 4 player, because of betting patterns during a loss in Poland in the summer. Mr. Davydenko, who has refused to turn over phone records, has since denied any wrongdoing."

Further, the article adds:

"Kris Dent, an ATP spokesman, also acknowledged that a “highly subjective” list of 140 suspicious matches dating from 2002 had been compiled by a European bookmaker and provided to investigators."

Most surprising to me, the article also said:

"At Betfair, which is based in London, tennis ranks third behind horse racing and soccer among its one million customers, who together place five million bets each day. More than $60 million was handled for the Wimbledon’s men’s final, won by Roger Federer over Rafael Nadal."

I had no idea that betting on tennis was so popular. Who'd a thunk it?

Re: tennis and gambling
 

Tennis is really popular, betting-wise. This hardly shocks me; any sport where you get closer to individual achievement deciding the fate of the outcome, the more corruption there will be. Seems obvious.

Re: tennis and gambling
 

There is no recognized sport on earth that doesn't involve heavy gambling. The heavier the gambling, the more popular the sport.

Re: tennis and gambling
 

why is the betfair thing shocking to you?

btw, i'd imagine that $60mil was on the wimbledon outright market (i.e. it ran for several months). i haven't been on betfair in a while, but i really doubt that kind of money gets wagered in 2-3 days.

also, those figures are super misleading because of the nature of betfair.

but yeah, tennis is big business.

Re: tennis and gambling
 

Tennis seems super super easy to rig. You wouldn't even have to lose, just hit a couple balls into the net in the second set and the game goes over the O/U # of games.