Tennis summam

There are 3 main groups of concern:

1. Russian
2. North Italian
3. Sicilian

All 3 groups have created suspicious betting patters on many matches
over the past 4 years. They have all hacked or laid players at odds far
removed from what they actually should have been.

The Russian Group

There are 11 accounts of concern in the Russian group, all based either
in Moscow or St Petersburg. The main match of concern is the
Davydenko Vassallo Arguello match of 02/08/07. There are 4 other
matches (all ATP) involving Russian players that appear from the
betting patterns to be suspicious. These matches were all played in
2007 and 3 were round matches and one was a quarter final.

The accounts primarily bet 'in play' -- when the match is in progress.

The WTA match between--and- played on 

is also highly suspicious when looked at in detail.

When 3 or more of the Russian accounts trade on the same match
there is a pattern of at least one Russian player being involved.

There is no doubt in my mind that these accounts are in receipt of
inside information, at the very least, regarding Russian players.

These accounts are unsophisticated in the way they bet on suspect
matches as they are happy to take all prices available, regardless of
how the match is progressing, and at times it appears that the suspect
accounts are almost fighting with each other to get their money down.

The North Italian Group

There are 6 main accounts of concern in this group. The group favour
matches involving Argentinean and/or Spanish players. The most
profitable match for this group was the Vassallo Arguello 
match from and there are at least 20 other matches that
appear, from the initial betting patterns, to warrant further
investigation. Most of the 20 were 1" round matches.

This group usually bet into the set betting markets as well as the
straight win market.

There is also a pattern of the player who goes on to win the match
losing the 1St set.

The players that feature heavily in the list of suspect matches are:

-- Vassallo
Arguello.

 

There is only one suspect womens match in the list. This was when

lost to-- 

This group of accounts are more sophisticated than the Russian group
when it comes to betting on suspect matches and, in my opinion, are a
bigger threat to the integrity of the sport than either the Russian or
Sicilian groups. Although this group appear to be much more organised
than the Russians they still heavily skew the Betfair markets when
trading on suspect matches.

The way these accounts traded on some of the suspect matches it
would strongly suggest that both players in the match are involved in
the conspiracy.

The lian Groug

There are 10 main accounts of concern in this group all based in and
around Sicily. The accounts are linked and are believed to have placed
bets through computers at the Palermo Tennis Club where an ATP
tournament was held in recent years.

There are 12 matches involving this group that i believe warrant further
investigation. The top match in the list being Vassallo Arguello 
-, Played at the-- on -where the
accounts won a combined total of ?257,988. Of the 12 matches, 9 were
1" round, 2 were in the 2"d round and one was a quarter final match.

 

This group also plays on the set betting markets. There are no
suspicious WTA matches in the list of 12.

The players featuring heavily in the list include: Vassallo