Federbet calls odds fluctutations before games 'crazy', but Welsh football officials deny any wrongdoing
The international anti-corruption betting body that claimed two Welsh Premier League games were fixed has released the evidence behind its allegations.
Belgium-based Federbet stunned Welsh and English football last week by claiming a slew of matches were suspect.
The four Welsh clubs involved in the named games have all vehemently denied the allegations, which were made public in an event at the European Parliament.
Federbet secretary Francesco Baranca told Wales on Sunday his organisation based its allegations on significant last-minute swings in odds.
He said his staff had studied team news and all other available information to pinpoint matches where the odds swung dramatically with no obvious explanation
He said that the evidence does not prove skulduggery outright, but is strongly indicative of wrongdoing.
Mr Baranca said that the movement in odds before Bala’s home 7-0 triumph against Connah’s Quay on December 13 was “huge, huge, huge, huge”.
Mr Baranca revealed the odds on a Bala win opened at an average of 2.05 – equivalent to slightly better than 1/1 or evens – but closed at 1.35, which is a stingy 1/3.
In simple terms, a flutter on Bala to win when the betting opened would have returned more than twice the stake.
But by the time it closed it would have returned just over a third of the value of the bet, ie a £5 bet would have gone from delivering £10.25 to just £6.75.
Also, Mr Baranca said there was a dramatic movement in the odds on more than 3.25 goals scored in the game, with these dropping from 2.7 to 1.52 for the contest.
Mr Baranca said that there were normally only very slight changes in football odds in the absence of major team news. He said a normal movement in odds would be from around 1.8 to 1.83.
The official, who says one of the main goals of his group is to fight match-fixing, said: “For this match there was an absolutely incredible movement of the odds. It was a huge, huge, huge, huge movement.”
Mr Baranca, who on the Federbet website is described as a former head of legal for some of the biggest betting firms in Europe, called the movement on more than 3.25 goals “shocking”.
Italian Mr Baranca said: “This evening I was reading the report of the match and it was raining so much.
“So it’s not sense that the odds were going down because we know when the pitch is not in perfect condition, it’s harder to make goals than in normal conditions. In this case the numbers were crazy – really, absolutely crazy.”
Mr Baranca maintains he contacted the clubs by email detailing his concerns about the amount of money placed on the game’s outcome, but the clubs say they were taken by surprise by the allegations from Federbet.
The official says he looked for team news that might have detailed an injury to a key player that would have explained the shortening of the odds, but found nothing.
Football Association of Wales integrity manager Rob Dowling rejected Mr Baranca’s claim that the price movements show the games were fixed. He said they have not yet received a response from Federbet after contacting them by email to ask for further information about the match-fixing claims.
Mr Dowling said: “We have every single match at Welsh Premier League level monitored by ours and UEFA’s integrity partners, who are the world leaders offering similar services to Federbet, but have been around for much longer and are a lot more established.
“We do spot-checks and have done spot checks throughout the 2013/14 season. The two games Federbet have published as being manipulated or fixed were two games which fell under our spot-check.
“In terms of the odds movements nothing looked out of the ordinary. There can always be irregular betting patterns prior to a match depending on what the local news is or someone may have information where they think one of the team’s star players is going to be out injured.”
Mr Baranca believes it’s significant that the other match they have under suspicion between Port Talbot and Carmarthen was the next day.
“The fixers never work alone,” he said.
In a further fluctuation he called “shocking” the odds on a home win for Port Talbot Town’s 1-1 draw with Carmarthen Town opened at 2.95 and closed at 1.75.
Mr Baranca maintains the fact that the game ended in a draw does not mean there was no skulduggery.
He said: “It’s not every time they try to fix the match they are able to have the result they want. It happens that not all the players are in the agreement or because they are not able to score or concede.”
All four teams have issued separate statements rejecting Federbet’s claims.
Port Talbot chief executive Andrew Edwards said: “Any suggestion of match-fixing is extremely serious and potentially very damaging, and as a football club we treat it with the utmost severity.
“We have absolutely nothing to hide and welcome any investigation, which the club would fully assist.”
In a statement, Carmarthen Town said: “We as a club have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to any form of betting by players or officials.”
Gap Connah’s Quay said: “We read with absolute amazement the claims that a match involving gap Connah’s Quay Nomads and Bala Town was subject to a match-fixing investigation.
“We deny all knowledge of any allegations and welcome any further information that justifies such a claim.”
Bala Town said: “We as a club have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to any form of betting by players or officials.”
Federbet, which is based in Brussels, believes that match-fixing in football is far more prevalent than is widely suspected.
The organisation said said there were 110 matches they believed to be fixed in 2013-2014 in Europe, while there were suspicions about a further 350.
The total of 460 possibly fixed matches was up 20% from the previous year, the organisation said.
They included matches in Britain, Italy, France and Greece, as well as many eastern European countries.
Football bodies across Europe have rejected the claims
French regulator ARJEL issued a joint statement with the French Football League (LFP) decrying the claims.
And The UK’s Football Conference insisted it had a robust monitoring system conducted in conjunction with the Gambling Commission, leading betting companies and other agencies appointed by the Football Association.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/anti-corruption-group-reveals-figures-says-7232368
Belgium-based Federbet stunned Welsh and English football last week by claiming a slew of matches were suspect.
The four Welsh clubs involved in the named games have all vehemently denied the allegations, which were made public in an event at the European Parliament.
Federbet secretary Francesco Baranca told Wales on Sunday his organisation based its allegations on significant last-minute swings in odds.
He said his staff had studied team news and all other available information to pinpoint matches where the odds swung dramatically with no obvious explanation
He said that the evidence does not prove skulduggery outright, but is strongly indicative of wrongdoing.
Mr Baranca said that the movement in odds before Bala’s home 7-0 triumph against Connah’s Quay on December 13 was “huge, huge, huge, huge”.
Mr Baranca revealed the odds on a Bala win opened at an average of 2.05 – equivalent to slightly better than 1/1 or evens – but closed at 1.35, which is a stingy 1/3.
In simple terms, a flutter on Bala to win when the betting opened would have returned more than twice the stake.
But by the time it closed it would have returned just over a third of the value of the bet, ie a £5 bet would have gone from delivering £10.25 to just £6.75.
Also, Mr Baranca said there was a dramatic movement in the odds on more than 3.25 goals scored in the game, with these dropping from 2.7 to 1.52 for the contest.
Mr Baranca said that there were normally only very slight changes in football odds in the absence of major team news. He said a normal movement in odds would be from around 1.8 to 1.83.
The official, who says one of the main goals of his group is to fight match-fixing, said: “For this match there was an absolutely incredible movement of the odds. It was a huge, huge, huge, huge movement.”
Mr Baranca, who on the Federbet website is described as a former head of legal for some of the biggest betting firms in Europe, called the movement on more than 3.25 goals “shocking”.
Italian Mr Baranca said: “This evening I was reading the report of the match and it was raining so much.
“So it’s not sense that the odds were going down because we know when the pitch is not in perfect condition, it’s harder to make goals than in normal conditions. In this case the numbers were crazy – really, absolutely crazy.”
Mr Baranca maintains he contacted the clubs by email detailing his concerns about the amount of money placed on the game’s outcome, but the clubs say they were taken by surprise by the allegations from Federbet.
The official says he looked for team news that might have detailed an injury to a key player that would have explained the shortening of the odds, but found nothing.
Football Association of Wales integrity manager Rob Dowling rejected Mr Baranca’s claim that the price movements show the games were fixed. He said they have not yet received a response from Federbet after contacting them by email to ask for further information about the match-fixing claims.
Mr Dowling said: “We have every single match at Welsh Premier League level monitored by ours and UEFA’s integrity partners, who are the world leaders offering similar services to Federbet, but have been around for much longer and are a lot more established.
“We do spot-checks and have done spot checks throughout the 2013/14 season. The two games Federbet have published as being manipulated or fixed were two games which fell under our spot-check.
“In terms of the odds movements nothing looked out of the ordinary. There can always be irregular betting patterns prior to a match depending on what the local news is or someone may have information where they think one of the team’s star players is going to be out injured.”
Mr Baranca believes it’s significant that the other match they have under suspicion between Port Talbot and Carmarthen was the next day.
“The fixers never work alone,” he said.
In a further fluctuation he called “shocking” the odds on a home win for Port Talbot Town’s 1-1 draw with Carmarthen Town opened at 2.95 and closed at 1.75.
Mr Baranca maintains the fact that the game ended in a draw does not mean there was no skulduggery.
He said: “It’s not every time they try to fix the match they are able to have the result they want. It happens that not all the players are in the agreement or because they are not able to score or concede.”
All four teams have issued separate statements rejecting Federbet’s claims.
Port Talbot chief executive Andrew Edwards said: “Any suggestion of match-fixing is extremely serious and potentially very damaging, and as a football club we treat it with the utmost severity.
“We have absolutely nothing to hide and welcome any investigation, which the club would fully assist.”
In a statement, Carmarthen Town said: “We as a club have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to any form of betting by players or officials.”
Gap Connah’s Quay said: “We read with absolute amazement the claims that a match involving gap Connah’s Quay Nomads and Bala Town was subject to a match-fixing investigation.
“We deny all knowledge of any allegations and welcome any further information that justifies such a claim.”
Bala Town said: “We as a club have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to any form of betting by players or officials.”
Federbet, which is based in Brussels, believes that match-fixing in football is far more prevalent than is widely suspected.
The organisation said said there were 110 matches they believed to be fixed in 2013-2014 in Europe, while there were suspicions about a further 350.
The total of 460 possibly fixed matches was up 20% from the previous year, the organisation said.
They included matches in Britain, Italy, France and Greece, as well as many eastern European countries.
Football bodies across Europe have rejected the claims
French regulator ARJEL issued a joint statement with the French Football League (LFP) decrying the claims.
And The UK’s Football Conference insisted it had a robust monitoring system conducted in conjunction with the Gambling Commission, leading betting companies and other agencies appointed by the Football Association.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/anti-corruption-group-reveals-figures-says-7232368
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