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Match fixing is when the outcome of a match in organized sports has been manipulated. The reason for fixing a match includes ensuring a certain team advances or gambling. Match fixing is seen as one of the biggest problems in organized sports. This page is a list of match fixing incidents and of matches that are widely suspected of having been fixed.
In 1915, an unidentified gambler made an offer of $150 to Multnomah Athletic Club football player L. W. "Patsy" O'Rourke to throw the team's annual Thanksgiving game against the University of Oregon football team. O'Rourke approached team captain Red Rupert about the bribe, and the information ultimately made its way to Multnomah's coach. As a result, O'Rourke was benched for the game, which was a 15–2 victory for Oregon.[1]
An attempt was made to fix the 1946 NFL Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears, in favor of the latter team. Alvin J. Paris was convicted of bribery in 1947 for soliciting Giants players Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes.[2][3] Harvey Stemmer and David "Pete" Karkower were also convicted of bribery for their involvement in the plot. The convictions were upheld on appeal in 1948.[4]
In 1949, Daniel Opalka of Massena, New York was arrested for allegedly offering Massena High School football player David Walker $200 to fix the team's upcoming game against Saranac Lake High School. Opalka admitted to having a conversation with Walker about fixing the game, but said he was doing so in jest.[5]
In 1960, Brooklyn, New York school teacher David Budin was arrested by Michigan State Police for allegedly trying to bribe University of Oregon football team member Mickey Bruce in order to fix the outcome of their upcoming game against the University of Michigan football team. According to police, University of Oregon athletic directorLeo Harris declined to press charges to spare Bruce from having to be involved further. Budin was released by police after paying a $150 fine because he registered his hotel room under false name.[6] Bruce later alleged sports gambler Frank Rosenthal was the mastermind of the plot.[7]
In 1998, four Northwestern University football players were indicted for lying to a federal grand jury when they testified they had not placed wagers on their own games in 1994. Only one player—tailbackDennis Lundy—was accused of fixing the game. Lundy denied in front of the grand jury to intentionally fumbling on a play during a game against the University of Iowa in 1994. Federal prosecutors attested the fumble was intentional for the purposes of point-shaving.[8]
2009: On May 6, a federal grand jury in Detroit indicted six former University of Toledo athletes—three each from the school's football and basketball programs—on charges of conspiracy to commit sports bribery in relation to their alleged involvement in a point shaving scheme that ran from 2003 through 2006. It is believed to be the first major U.S. gambling case involving two sports at the same college.[9] Since then, four former Toledo athletes, including at least one not named in the original indictments, have pleaded guilty on charges related to the scheme. One of these, former Rockets running back Quinton Broussard, admitted he had deliberately fumbled during the 2005 GMAC Bowl against UTEP (a game ultimately won 45–13 by Toledo) in exchange for $500, and had been paid to provide confidential team information to one of the orchestrators of the scheme.[10]
In 1964, the great British football betting scandal of the 1960s was uncovered: a betting ring organized by Jimmy Gauld and involving several Football League players had been fixing matches. The most famous incident involved three Sheffield Wednesday players, including two England international players, who were subsequently banned from football for life and imprisoned after it was discovered they had bet on their team losing a match against Ipswich Town. A similar scandal had occurred in 1915.
1980 Italian football scandal ("Totonero"): In May 1980, the largest match fixing scandal in the history of Italian football was uncovered by Italian Guardia di Finanza, after the spalling of two Roman shopkeepers, Alvaro Trinca and Massimo Cruciani, who declared that some Italian football players sold the football-matches for money, implicating, among others, AC Milan and Lazio. Teams were suspected of rigging games by selecting favorable referees, with superstar Italian World Cup team goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi and future 1982 FIFA World Cup winner Paolo Rossi being banned for betting on football games. Both clubs were forcibly relegated to Serie B and the ringleader of the scheme, Milan president Felice Colombo, received a life ban.[11]
In 1981, a mob of about 500 people took over the pitch during a Panionios F.C. practice amid accusations that team trainer Lakis Petropoulos helped fix a match against P.A.S. Korinthos that resulted in a 0–0 draw. Police assisted Petropoulos to safety.[12]
In 1986, the Yugoslavian Football Association ruled that the first round playoffs of the Yugoslav First League had to be replayed after accusations of match fixing were made against several teams by the press. Twelve of the league's 18 teams were penalized.[13] A court later dismissed the penalties against the clubs.[14]
In February 1999 a Malaysian-based betting syndicate was caught attempting to install a remote-control device to sabotage the floodlights at FA Premier League team Charlton Athletic's ground, with the aid of a corrupt security officer. If the match had been abandoned after half-time, then the result and bets would have stood. Subsequent investigations showed that the gang had been responsible for previously unsuspected "floodlight failures" at West Ham'sground in November 1997, and again a month later at Crystal Palace'sground during a home match of Palace's groundsharing tenant Wimbledon.[15][16]
The Italian Football Federation said in October 2000 it had found eight players guilty of match-fixing. Three were from Serie A side Atalanta and the other five played for Serie B side Pistoiese. The players were Giacomo Banchelli, Cristiano Doni and Sebastiano Siviglia (all Atalanta) and Alfredo Aglietti, Massimiliano Allegri, Daniele Amerini, Gianluca Lillo and Girolamo Bizzarri (all Pistoiese). The charges related to an Italian Cup first round tie between the two sides in Bergamo on August 20, 2000 which ended 1–1. Atalanta scored at the end of the first half and Pistoiese equalised three minutes from full-time. Atalanta qualified for the second round. Snai, which organises betting on Italian football, said later it had registered suspiciously heavy betting on the result and many of the bets were for a 1–0 halftime score and a full-time score of 1–1.
In 2004, Portuguese Police launched the operation Apito Dourado and named several Portuguese club presidents and football personalities as suspects of match fixing, including FC Porto's chairman Pinto da Costa. Some of the wiretaps used as proof, deemed inadmissible in court, can now be found on YouTube.[17][18]
2005 German football match-fixing scandal: In January 2005, the German Football Association (DFB) and German prosecutors launched separate probes into charges that referee Robert Hoyzer bet on and fixed several matches that he worked, including a German Cup tie. Hoyzer later admitted to the allegations; it has been reported that he was involved with Croat gambling syndicates, and also implicated other referees and players in the match fixing scheme. The first arrests in the Hoyzer investigation were made on January 28 in Berlin, and Hoyzer himself was arrested on February 12 after new evidence apparently emerged to suggest that he had been involved in fixing more matches than he had admitted to. Hoyzer has been banned for life from football by the DFB. On March 10, a second referee, Dominik Marks, was arrested after being implicated in the scheme by Hoyzer. Still later (March 24), it was reported that Hoyzer had told investigators that the gambling ring he was involved with had access to UEFA's referee assignments for international matches and Champions League and UEFA Cup fixtures several days before UEFA publicly announced them. Ultimately, Hoyzer was sentenced to serve 2 years and 5 months in prison.
In July 2005, ItalianSerie B champions Genoa was downgraded to last place in the division by the sporting justice, and therefore condemned to relegation in Serie C1, after it was revealed that they bribed their opponents in the final match of the season, Venezia to throw the match. Club president Enrico Preziozi was banned for five years after being guilty by the sporting justice. Genoa won the match 3–2 and had apparently secured promotion to Serie A.
Brazilian football match-fixing scandal: In September 2005, a Brazilian magazine revealed that two football referees, Edílson Pereira de Carvalho (a member of FIFA's referee staff) and Paulo José Danelon, had accepted bribes to fix matches. Soon afterwards, sport authorities ordered the replaying of 11 matches in the country's top competition, the Campeonato Brasileiro, that had been worked by Edílson. Both referees have been banned for life from football and face criminal charges. Brazilian supporters have taken to shout "Edílson" at a referee who they consider to have made a bad call against their team, in a reference to the scandal.
2008 The Fix: Book by Declan Hill alleges that in the 2006 World Cup, the group game between Ghana and Italy, the round-of-16 game between Ghana and Brazil, and the Italy-Ukraine quarter-final were all fixed by Asian gambling syndicates to whom the final scores were known in advance.[20] The German Football Federation (DFB) and German Football League (DFL) looked into claims made in a Der Spiegel[21] interview with Hill that two Bundesliga matches were fixed by William Bee Wah Lim a fugitive with a 2004 conviction for match-fixing.[22]
2008: On October 1, it was reported that a Spanish judge who headed an investigation against Russian Mafia figures uncovered information alleging that the mobsters may have attempted to fix the 2007–08 UEFA Cupsemi-final between eventual championZenit St. Petersburg and Bayern Munich. Both clubs denied any knowledge of the alleged scheme.[23] Prosecutors in the German state of Bavaria, home to Bayern, later announced that they did not have enough evidence to justify a full investigation.[24]
2008: On October 4, suspicious online betting on the game between Norwich City and Derby County led some to question the validity of the Football League match. Gamblers in Asia were said to have placed a large amount of money down during halftime, which raised concerns over the outcome.[25] The inquiry by The Football Association found no evidence that would suggest the match was fixed.[26] Derby County ended up winning the match 2–1.
In November 2009, German police arrested 17 people on suspicion of fixing at least 200 soccer matches in 9 countries.[27] Among the suspected games were those from the top leagues of Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey, and games from the second highest leagues of Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. Three contests from the Champions League were also under investigation, and 12 from the Europa League.
In June 2011, trials started for people allegedly involved in fixing Finnish football matches. One team, Tampere United was indefinitely suspended from Finnish football for accepting payments from a person known for match-fixing.[28]
In July 2011, as part of a major match-fixing investigation by authorities in Turkey, nearly 60 people suspected to be involved with fixing games were detained by İstanbul Police Department Organized Crime Control Bureau and then arrested by the court. The case did not come to a conclusion yet and the teams that are being accused of match-fixing are participating in the Turkish league currently.[29]
In December 2013, six people in Britain, including Blackburn forward DJ Campbell, were arrested for allegedly fixing football games. The arrests were made by the National Crime Agency after release of a report from FederBet, a Brussels-based gambling watchdog, an organization created by the online bookmakers to watch the flow of bets across Europe.[35]
In 2008, Chinese badminton coach Li Yongbo admitted to fixing a match during the 2004 Summer Olympics. As a response, the Badminton World Federation created an integrity panel to investigate alleged match fixing incidents in badminton.[39]
During the 2014 Japan Open, Danish Badminton Athletes Commission president Hans-Kristian Vittinghus was asked via Facebook by a man he met from prior tournaments if he would be interested in fixing matches. Vittinghus declined and later found out the same person approached Danish player Kim Astrup with the same offer. The two went to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) who then requested they re-engage the person in order to find out their identity.[41]
In 2018, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) issued suspensions of 15 and 20 years for Malaysian players Tan Chun Seang and Zulfadli Zulkiffli, respectively, for fixing matches during various 2013 tournaments. The BWF convinced an independent panel to investigate allegations made by an unnamed whistleblower. The investigation found that Zulkiffli had fixed at least four matches which accounted for 31 infractions under BWF rules.[42]
Baseball
A game in September 1865 which resulted in a 23–11 victory for the Eckford of Brooklyn over the New York Mutuals was fixed according to confessions by those involved. Mutuals catcherBill Wansley was approached by gambler Kane McLoughlin to throw the game for $100. Wansley enlisted the help of the Mutuals third basemanEd Duffy who agreed to participate if they included shortstopTom Devyr. Wansley took the two players by wagon to the Hoboken Ferry where the payment was divided. Duffy and Devyr both received $30 each and Wansley kept $40 for himself. The fielding of those in on the fix—particularly Wansley's performance—was so poor that rumors of a fix began almost instantly. Wansley had so many passed balls during the game that he was moved to right field in the seventh inning. Henry Chadwick wrote about the game for the New York Clipper and defended Wansley against the fixing allegations. Mutuals players who were not in on the fix became suspicious of Wansley and accused him of "wilful and designated inattention". After a formal investigation, Wansley admitted to the fix and the three players were banned from organized baseball. Devyr was allowed to return in 1867 for a short time before two complaints from opposing teams were filed against the Mutuals. In December 1867 the baseball's National Commission voted to reinstate Devyr. Duffy returned to the Mutuals in 1868, but was not reinstated by the National Commission, which led to one of the Mutuals opponents to file a complaint to void the games Duffy appeared in. The complaint was successful and the Mutuals were briefly expelled from organized baseball. The final convention of the amateur baseball National Commission was held on November 30, 1870. At the convention, Mutuals president John Wildly motioned to reinstate Wansley to good standing which was approved.[43]
On July 24, 1873 umpireBob Ferguson declared a game between Baltimore Canaries and the New York Mutuals fixed by gamblers. Ferguson went into the stands to confront the gamblers following the game and then went back down to the field to confront players he believed were in on the fix. Two of the Mutuals players—John Hatfield and Nat Hicks—began accusing each other of being in on the fix. Hicks eventually grabbed a baseball bat and struck Ferguson in the arm which caused it to break. Ferguson, who was also a player as well as an umpire, was unable to play for one year because of the injury. No actions were taken against Hicks or any other player.[44]
In 1875, the St. Paul Red Caps and the Winona Clippers split a two-game championship series. Rumors gained steam after the series that two Clippers players—Frank Smith and W. W. Fisher—had worked with gamblers to fix the games. Fisher signed a confession that he accepted $250 from an unidentified gambler.[45]
An American League game on September 25, 1919 between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians was fixed according to letters ascertained by league president Ban Johnson in 1926. The letters were between Detroit outfielderTy Cobb and Cleveland outfielder Smokey Joe Wood. They were sold to Johnson by pitcherDutch Leonard who was one of the four players in on the fix along with Cobb, Wood and Cleveland player-managerTris Speaker. According to Leonard, Cobb suggested the players place bets on the game which they had already agreed to fix. Cobb denied placing any bets, but did confess to being involved in the fix. According to a retrospective of events by the Chicago Tribune in 1989, Leonard went to Johnson with the letters in 1926 after he became embittered at Cobb and Wood whom he felt had a hand in ending his career early. Johnson initially turned Leonard away and he went to Detroit owner Frank Navin with the letters. Navin advised Johnson to make a payment to Leonard to keep the letters from going public. Johnson then agreed to pay Leonard $20,000 for the letters. Following the 1926 season, Johnson called a secret meeting with Cobb and Speaker, who were the managers of their respective teams. Johnson laid out the facts and advised the men to resign their positions as managers, which both did. Cobb and Speaker both retired from playing in 1928 and neither took another managerial job.[50] The Associated Press broke the story on December 21, 1926.[51]
Following the 1919 Pacific Coast League (PCL) season, first basemanBabe Borton alleged that as a member of the pennant winning Vernon Tigers, he was party to pay-offs to all other PCL teams to ensure they would lose to Vernon. Borton alleged that every member of the Tigers pooled their money to make the pay-offs. Nate Raymond of Seattle, Washington was responsible for the payments according to Borton. Seattle Indians first baseman Rod Murphy alleged that Raymond offered him a $2,000 bribe during the 1920 season and confided that during the 1919 season he won $50,000 from gambling on fixed PCL games. Ultimately no player was charged with fixing games because there were no state statutes that were violated. The PCL banned several players for life, but some like Bill Rumler was reinstated after several years.[52]
In 1947, a report by National Commission president William G. Bramham found that five players in the Evangeline League, a minor league based in Louisiana, fixed several playoff games in 1946 for gambling purposes. For their role in the alleged plot, the five players—Bill Thomas, Lanny Pecou, Alvin W. Kaiser, Paul Fugit and Don Vettorel—were banned from professional baseball for life. An investigation of the alleged actions of the five players by Society for American Baseball Research writer George W. Hilton found little proof that there was any match-fixing. One of the accused players, Bill Thomas, pitched a perfect 5–0 record in the playoffs. Hilton conducted an interview with an unnamed player in the Evangeline League who claimed he was approached to be a part of the fixing scheme, but declined. The unnamed player contended that the plot failed, which was highlighted by one instance where a player who was in on the fix tried to strike out but made contact with the ball for a double.[55]
Between 1969 and 1971, a series of events known as The Black Mist Scandal rocked Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan. It was revealed that several NPB players had been paid off to fix games for gamblers. Ten players were banned from the NPB for life with several other players receiving penalties ranging from salary cuts to suspensions.
In 1978, outfielderBárbaro Garbey was banned from Cuban baseball for his part in match-fixing. He defected from Cuba to the United States in 1980 and later that year signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers to join their minor league organization. The match-fixing incidents were revealed for the first time in the American press on May 22, 1983 by the Miami Herald. In an interview with Garbey, Herald writer Peter Richmond brought up match-fixing allegations and Garbey admitted to playing a part in the scheme. Garbey was allowed to continue his minor league career, but the Tigers were prevented from calling him up by ruling of the National Commission president John H. Johnson. The ruling was lifted in 1984 and the Tigers called Garbey up from the minors.[56][57] Garbey later returned to Cuba and became a manager.[58]
In 1997, 22 players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League were sentenced to between seven and 30 months in prison for match-fixing.[60] So many of the members of China Times Eagles were involved in the plot that the team fielded mostly rookies in that season's championship series.[61]
In 2008, three players were suspended indefinitely from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for match-fixing. Prosecutors said evidence of the fixing came to light after police detained six members of dmedia T-REX and four people identified as bookmakers. T-Rex executive director Shih Chien-hsin confessed to police that hatched the plan with people identified as "gangsters" by the Taipei Times. The three players banned from the CBPL were catcherChen Ker-fan, center fielderChen Yuan-chia and pitcher Cory Bailey. Chen Ker-fan and Chen Yuan-chia, who were both from Taiwan, were arrested and released on NT$50,000 in bail each. Bailey, who is an American national and previously played in Major League Baseball, was arrested and released on a NT$100,000 bond.[63] In 2008, Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau looked into a total of 102 illegal betting allegations in the CPBL, which involved a total of 222 suspects.[64]
In 2009, another match-fixing scandal hit the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). Following the season, allegations arose that the Brother Elephants—one of Taiwan's most popular baseball clubs—had accepted money to lose during that year's Taiwan Series against the Uni-President 7-11 Lions.[65] By the end of a prosecutor's investigation, 23 Elephants players had been named as being in on the fix, including pitcher Chin-hui Tsao, who was the first Taiwanese pitcher to play in Major League Baseball.[64][65] Tsao denies having any involvement with match-fixings.[65] In 2009, President of the Republic of ChinaYing-jeou Ma convinced a meeting to address the systemic match fixing problems in the CPBL. Penalties for match-fixing were re-written to mirror the laws governing lotteries, which called for up to 10 years in prison for fraud.[64]
During the 2012 and 2013 Major League Baseball seasons, allegations were made by gamber Kris Barr that he was in on fixing Pittsburgh Pirates games with pitcherJeff Locke. After an investigation, it was found that Barr had no contact with Locke relating to fixing games. Instead, Barr felt slighted by Locke—whom he knew from youth baseball—and created an elaborate story to damage his reputation. The Center for Investigative Reporting and Sports Illustrated released the details of the events on August 18, 2014 which included reporting on the aggressive tactics of the MLB investigators led by retired New York Police Department officer Rick Burnham. Locke recalled that the MLB investigators told him that they had proof that he was in on fixing games and pressured him to confess, in spite of his pleas of innocence and the fact the investigators presented no proof.[66]
In 2016, South Korean police released information about an alleged match-fixing scheme in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) dating back to 2014 that involved 21 people—three of whom played in the KBO. Pitchers Chang-sik Yoo and Sung-min Lee were named by police in the probe and one player was identified only by his surname 'Kim'.[67][68]
Basketball
In 1946, Brooklyn College players admitted to conspiring to fix an upcoming game set to take place on January 31, 1945 against the University of Akron. Brooklyn players Henry Rosen and Harvey Stemmer were convicted of "conspiracy to cheat and defraud" on May 9, 1945. Stemmer was immediately sentenced to one year in the state penitentiary and a $500 fine. Rosen was sentenced on May 16 and in spite of the jury's request that the World War II veteran receive leniency Judge Louis Goldstein also sentenced Rosen to one year in the state penitentiary. His sentence was reduced to 15 to 30 months in state prison by Manhattan's General Sessions Court Judge Gould Schurman, Jr. a month later.[69]
In April 2011, a U.S. federal grand jury in San Diego indicted a group of 10 individuals on charges of running a point shaving scheme affecting an as yet-undetermined number of college basketball games. Three of the accused had ties to the University of San Diego's men's basketball team—one was then the team's all-time leader in points and assists; another was a former player; and the third was a former assistant. Games at the University of California, Riverside, where the second indicted player also played, were also mentioned as potentially being fixed.[74]
In 2015, South Korean police announced they were investigating alleged match fixing in the Korean Basketball League, which involved a total of 11 players with at least one of them suspected of intentionally missing shots in an attempt to change the outcome of a game. The other players in the investigation had allegedly placed wagers on sports betting websites.[75]
In 2017, allegations arose that the Red BullKorea amateur three-on-three basketball tournament was fixed for the South Korean team, 'Project X', to win. According to the allegations published in The Korea Times, the other South Korean teams competing in the tournament colluded to make sure Project X beat out the foreign teams. The Times alleged this was possible because of the tournament's rules that added the team's points up to determine the winner instead of a traditional elimination tournament. The opposing South Korean teams let Project X run up the score during their contests to game the overall outcome of the tournament, according to the Times. Red Bull Korea denied having any part in the alleged scheme.[79]
In September 1913, heavyweight boxerArthur Pelkey, who was the reigning World White Heavyweight Champion, submitted a signed letter to Roscoe Fawcett, sports editor of The Oregonian, which stated that he was involved in a fixed match on March 26, 1913 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada under the direction of his manager Tommy Burns. Pelkey further alleged that Burns made the heavyweight sign over fifty percent of his earnings when he was in police custody awaiting a determination by the coroner if he was responsible for the in-ring death of his opponent Luther McCarty on May 24, 1913. McCarty's death was eventually ruled unrelated to that match and Pelkey continued his boxing career with Burns as his manager.[81]
On September 22, 1922 at the Vélodrome Buffalo in Paris, France, the reigning World Light Heavyweight ChampionGeorges Carpentier took on Battling Siki in what was supposed to be a fixed fight, according to Siki. During the fight, Carpentier went back on a previous arrangement to not hurt Siki, although it is debated by Smithsonian.com writer Gilbert King whether or not Carpentier was in on the fix or if it was arranged by someone from his corner without his knowledge. Siki then decided to fight Carpenter without letting up, but was eventually disqualified in a controversial decision by referee M. Henri Bernstein. Later the decision was reversed and Siki was crowned the World Light Heavyweight Champion.[82]
On December 15, 1923, following a match between Frankie Schoell and Dave Shade, referee Dave Miller told reporters he was offered $500 to fix the match in favor of Schoell.[83]
November 17, 1924: Boxers Fred Fulton and Tony Fuente were accused of fixing a fight in Los Angeles, California. The match lasted 35 seconds with Fuente throwing two punches. It was the last match fought under state rules that prohibited boxers from winning cash prizes.[84]
In 1938, heavyweight boxer Al "Big Boy" Bray told the California State Athletic Commission that he was offered a $1,000 bribe to take a dive against Chuck Crowell, which took place at Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Bray said the bribe was offered by boxing promoter Suey Welch and Crowell's manager Baron Henry von Stumme.[85]
On January 29, 1939, heavyweight boxer Harry Thomas confessed that he participated in two fixed matches. The first was on December 13, 1937 against Max Schmeling in which Thomas lost by technical knockout (TKO) in the eight round. The second fight took place on November 14, 1938 against Tony Galento in which Thomas was defeated by TKO in the third round. Thomas was paid $8,500 for fixing the Schmeling fight and $23,000 for fixing the Galento fight.[86]
In 1949, the Michigan Boxing Commission investigated a fight between welterweights Kid Gavilán and Lester Felton, which resulted in a split 2–1 decision for Felton. Gavilán told commission he believed the referee helped Felton fix the match.[88]
Also in 1954, heavyweight boxer Clarence Henry was arrested and charged with bribery for allegedly offering middleweight boxer Bobby Jones $15,000 to throw his fight against Joey Giardello on June 11 at Madison Square Garden.[90]
In 1955, California GovernorGoodwin J. Knight created an investigative committee to look into allegations of match fixing in boxing. The following year, the committee convened a hearing where it was revealed they had evidence that boxing promoterBabe McCoy had fixed seven fights dating back to 1950.[91]
In December 1957, boxer Dick Goldstein told the National Boxing Association that Art Aragon had approached him before their upcoming match and offered him $500 to take a dive. Goldstein refused and Aragon called off the fight, telling the Texas Athletic Commission he was ill. Aragon was convicted of criminal conspiracy for his part in the scheme and was sentenced to one to five years in a California State Prison.[92]
On June 26, 1976, the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan resulted in a 15-round draw. Both sides agreed to the match under the assumption it would be a fixed exhibition. The two fighters could not agree on who would win the fight, so the match became genuine.[96]
In 1986, the Aftenposten in Oslo, Norway reported that Norwegian heavyweight boxer Steffen Tangstad had fought Uruguayan boxer Alfredo Evangelista in a fixed match. Evangelista told Aftenposten that he agreed to lose the fight as long as he was not knocked down and was paid $6,000 for his cooperation.[97]
In 1993, Sports Illustrated reported that several fights arranged by boxing promoter Rick "Elvis" Parker were fixed according to boxer Sonny Barch, who claimed he was approached by Parker and told to lose the fight against Randall "Tex" Cobb scheduled on September 15, 1993. Cobb knocked out Barch in the first-round. Barch also claimed to have knowledge of another fix which occurred on the same card as his fight between football player turned boxer Mark Gastineau and Rick Hoard. In that match, Gastineau won by a technical knockout in the first round.[98] Cobb denied the claims and sued Sports Illustrated for libel. He was awarded $10.7 million by a federal jury in 1999.[99] The verdict was reversed on appeal on January 31, 2002.[100]
In 2006, Japan Today circulated rumors that the Juan Landaeta vs. Koki Kameda fight was fixed, but pointed out there was no evidence to support the allegations.[101]
In 2010, a match between cruiserweights Paul Briggs and Danny Green was declared fixed following an investigation by WA Professional Combat Sports Commission. Green was exonerated by the investigation, but Briggs, who was knocked out 29 seconds into the first round, was found to have purposefully taken a dive. The findings of the investigation were overturned in 2012 by three judges of the High Court of Australia.[102]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, a match result was overturned and the referee was expelled from the tournament after a very controversial decision which included a boxer winning the match despite having been knocked down five times in one round, in violation of amateur boxing regulations. Under AIBA rules, both the mandatory eight count and three knockdown rule are in effect.[103] Eleven months earlier, BBC reported on a possible bribery attempt, which could be related.[104]
On December 31, 2018, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. faced rising kickboxer and mixed martial artist Tenshin Nasukawa in an exhibition boxing match for the Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation's Rizin 14 event. After Mayweather easily dominated Nasukawa in under two and a half minutes, which saw Nasukawa "comically" stumbling around the ring after each knockdown and Mayweather even dancing in the middle of the ring, both fans and pundits began accusing the fight of being fixed - although no evidence was ever found.[106][107][108]
In 1979, Somerset deliberately declared their innings in their Benson & Hedges Cup one-day match against Worcestershire closed after only one over was completed. This plan was not motivated by gambling, but was instead meant to manipulate tie-breaking rules for Somerset's benefit and assure qualification for the quarterfinals of the tournament. Although the plan was not against the letter of the rules, it was widely condemned by both media and cricket officials, and Somerset was expelled from that year's tournament in response.
In 2000 the Delhi police intercepted a conversation between a blacklisted bookie and the South Africancricket captain Hansie Cronje in which they learnt that Cronje accepted money to throw matches. The South African government refused to allow any of its players to face the Indian investigation unit, which opened up a can of worms. A court of inquiry was set up and Cronje admitted to throwing matches. He was immediately banned from all cricket. He also named Saleem Malik (Pakistan), Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (India). Jadeja was banned for 4 years. They too were banned from all cricket. As a kingpin, Cronje exposed the dark side of betting, however with his untimely death in 2002 most of his sources also have escaped law enforcement agencies. Two South African cricketers, Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje, are also wanted by the Delhi police for their role in the match fixing saga. A few years before in 1998, Australian players Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were fined for revealing information about the 'weather' to a bookmaker.
The fourth Test of Pakistan'ssummer 2010 cricket tour of England contained several incidents of spot fixing, involving members of the Pakistan team deliberately bowling no-balls at specific points to facilitate the potential defrauding of bookmakers.[109] Three players were banned from cricket and sentenced to prison terms.[110]
In 2010, several professional Starcraft players were suspected of being involved in illegal match fixing, with two people arrested and about seven gamers investigated, with two renowned gamers, Ma Jae-Yoon and By. CrocuS were confirmed as working as a broker between the bettors and the gamers.[114]
In June 2013, a Dota 2 pro player Alexey "Solo" Berezin was caught match fixing during a match against ZRage in SLTV Star Ladder Season VI as RoX.Kis. The match had no bearing on their standings since both teams could no longer qualify for the LAN finals. Solo bet $100 against his team and proceed to intentionally throw the game and supposedly won $322 from it. As a result of being caught Solo received a lifetime ban from Starladder (later reduced to one year[115] and was later removed from the team[116]), a three-year ban for the other players, and one-year ban for the organization.[117][118]
In October 2014, Dota 2 pro players Kok Yi "ddz" Liong and Fua Hsien "Lance" Wan were both found guilty of match fixing during the match against CSW on Synergy SEA as Arrow Gaming as it has been found that both their girlfriends have betted expensive quality items against their team where they proceed to intentionally throw the match. Arrow Gaming repeatedly tried to deny this but conclusive evidence eventually proves this fact and as a result, the teams have been removed from Synergy SEA and disqualified from other tournaments such as Summit 2. Both ddz and Lance were removed from the Arrow Gaming and the rest of the team disbanded one day later.[119][120]
In 1996, the International Hockey Federation released a report concluding there was no evidence to prove a match between India and Malaysia in an Olympic qualifying match in January. Canadian Hockey Association president Judy McCrae was publicly skeptical of the report and affirmed her belief that the game was fixed.[123]
In 2012, several Frenchhandball players from the Montpellier club were arrested on allegations they fixed matches.[125] In June 2015, the French government pressed charges against the alleged Montpellier fixers who included Olympic medalistNikola Karabatic, his brother Luka Karabatic and six others Montpellier players. Prosecutors alleged Montpellier, who had already sealed the French handball championship, purposefully lost to Cesson in May 2012. French authorities were tipped off to the alleged fix when discovering that over 100,000 euros in bets had been placed on the low-stakes game that prosecutors contend should have only garnered a few thousand euros in wagers. In July 2015, the 16 people indicted by French authorities for their part in the match fixing scandal—including the Karabatic brothers—were found guilty. Nikola Karabatic was fined 10,000 euros and the largest fine on 30,000 euros went to Mladen Bojinovic. None of the people were given jail sentences, despite the prosecutors request.[126] The Karabatic brothers appealed the decision and in 2017, but lost and a new ruling made by the Disciplinary Committee of the French Handball Federation required Nikola Karabatic to sit out six games and Luka Karabatic to sit out two.[127]
In September 2009, Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. admitted to having intentionally wrecked his race-car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix due to team orders. It gave an advantage to his teammate Fernando Alonso who went on to win the race. Following a lawsuit by the Renault Formula 1 team against the Piquet family, a judge ruled in Piquet's favor due to overwhelming evidence against the team; fining the Renault Formula 1 team millions, liquidating various employees, banning the team from Formula 1 for 2 years (on suspended sentence) and various key members of Renault Formula 1 team being banned for life (which was later appealed).
In the NASCAR Cup Series, the 2019 Ford EcoBoost 400 was marred by race manipulation involving teams not having a Race Team Alliance charter, Premium Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing (with assistance from a chartered team in Spire Motorsports) in an attempt to ensure Premium would be the non-charter team with highest points in the team owner's standings. NASCAR penalized all teams involved in the scheme, handing the title of the highest placed non-charter team to Gaunt Brothers Racing.
In 2010, allegations were made by the British newspaper News of the World that snooker champion John Higgins had accepted a £261,000 bribe from undercover reporters in Kiev, Ukraine to throw frames. Higgins denied the bribery and match fixing allegations.[129] During an investigation of the events, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) placed Higgins on suspension.[130] Later that year, a WPBSA endorsed tribunal found Higgins guilty of accepting a bribe but found no evidence of match fixing.[131]
In 2016, Irish snooker player Leo Fernandez was banned from the sport for 15 months by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) for manipulating part of a match. While it was not a full manipulation of the match's outcome, Fernandez had contact with people that placed a prop bet which said he would chose to shoot the first foul shot of the game. Fernandez did opt to take first foul shot, thus making the bet successful. The WPBSA ruled that was a violation of their corruption bylaws.[132]
On 1 December 2018, Chinese snooker players Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng were banned from the sport following a lengthy investigation by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Yupeng admitted to fixing three matches and is eligible for reinstatement on 24 November 2020. Delu, who admitted to fixing five matches, revived a 10-year nine-month ban. He is eligible for reinstatement on 24 February 2029.[133]
In 2007, French tennis player Arnaud Clément claimed he was offered a bribe to fix a match, which he turned down, but added, "I won't say where or under what circumstances". Clément feared divulging more details on the bribe would have negative consequences on his career.[134]
On 18 January 2016, a joint Buzzfeed and BBC investigation reported alleged widespread match-fixing, which involve Northern Italian, Sicilian, and Russian betting syndicates, which included suspicious betting at major tournaments such as Wimbledon. The reporters examined betting incidents on a total of 26,000 matches.[137]
In June 2018, Argentinian tennis player Nicolas Kicker was banned from the sport for at least three years for match-fixing. According to an investigation by the Tennis Integrity Unit, Kicker knowingly participated in at least two fixed matches in 2015. The ruling prohibits Kicker from competing in or attending a sanctioned tennis match.[138]
In July 2018 Egyptian tennis player Karim Hossam received a lifetime ban for match fixing.[139]
In September 2019 Brazilian tennis player Diego Matos received a lifetime ban for match fixing.[140]
In May 2020 Egyptian tennis player Youssef Hossam received a lifetime ban for match fixing, as his brother Karim had two years prior.[141]
In 2012, the Korea Volleyball Federation expelled four South Korean volleyball players for life after its disciplinary panel found evidence they took part in fixing matches. A fifth player was suspected of being in on the fixes, but was not expelled due to limited evidence.[143] Later that year evidence from South Korean prosecutors implicated 16 volleyball players involved in match-fixing schemes.[144]
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