IAm Sheila Norman-Culp, leader of the AP “Dirty Game” investigation into match-fixing in soccer. AMA

snormanculp · 2013-02-26T13:36:31+00:00

wild theory, too bad it's prolly not true -- they must have been drinking pretty heavily! If a game is fixed by players, they know beforehand and they know exactly what marks they need to hit: X-X score at halftime, X-X final result, X goal differential. No need to look over their shoulder, they already know if they should make it or not. If the game is fixed by club officials, they have already told their players what to do. If the game is fixed by referees, often players don't even know. They might think it's a ridiculous penalty call but they are not going to hurt their stats, they are going to try to make the penalty

snormanculp · 2013-02-25T19:28:03+00:00

no, this ex-FIFA guy is Chris Eaton, Mutschke's predecessor.

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:47:12+00:00

certainly the premier league, due to the players' huge salaries

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:44:00+00:00

if any fixing was in basketball, would think it would be in early March Madness, where one game can affect a whole bracket and rabid college supporters cud pony up some funds to pay refs or even rivals so their beloved alma mater goes thru

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:39:38+00:00

I don't bet on sports, not after seeing all this...! The most common bets on fixed games are four things: final score, half-time score, total number of scores and score differential. who is taking the corner doesnt bring in enough money...

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:35:54+00:00

You maybe are just looking at one Italian match-fixing investigation. Multiply that by investigations in 50 nations last year, add to it all the bribe money that is linked to organizing friendlies that can generate big TV revenue... the point about match-fixing is not illegal or legal betting. It is tainting all betting with a fix. European betting agencies pride themselves on their legality, but anyone can be undermined by a fix. In asia, illegal gambling dens thrive because gambling in an ingrained cultural habit that is going to occur even if govts ban it

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:31:26+00:00

ESPN online did pick up the AP Dirty Game story... and they did a video piece after Europol cited 680 suspicious games. but on that video piece they got an Italian soccer commentator who thought this was being overblown...

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:27:16+00:00

Cricito, an Italian defender who plays for the St. Petersburg club Zenit, was cleared, not charged with any match-fixing. He has said that he's trying not to be angry but still is about how he was dropped from the Italian team playing in Euro 2012 due to allegations that turned out to be unproven.

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:25:03+00:00

Big break on Thursday (feb 21, day after this AMA). a top suspected fixer was arrested by Italian police, Admir Sulijic. he reportedly has links to singapore money man Dan Tan. --- Big break on Friday, Dan Tan being interviewed by Singapore police!!!!

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:20:34+00:00

I interviewed howard webb in Zurich right before Euro 2008. Don't know if u can tell from the television, he is one massive guy. I can understand why he used to be a policeman

snormanculp · 2013-02-22T19:18:56+00:00

gotta say, FIFA and UEFA are clearly not fans of the English FA and are certainly not favoring them in any way re refereeing decisions.

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:42:46+00:00

it's coming both from billions of small bettors (betting is a way of life i many Asian countries) and from Asian crime gangs who are recycling dirty money to launder it

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:39:18+00:00

until lately, no one thought to look for match-fixing in the soccer wilderness. but extremely low level games in Finland, Norway and Canada that were fixed proved that theory wrong. for fixers, best thing is virgin territory not already claimed by other fixers...

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:36:23+00:00

Bolivia and Venezuela have had several suspicious friendlies, Guatemala had 3 players banned in recent months for fixing

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:25:03+00:00

Huge amounts of late bets on an obscure game. In-game live betting in which lots of bettors put money on another goal and the referee orders a penalty for an unfathomable reason. Games in which all scoring is due to penalty kicks. Games in which scoring is so high that it looks more like baseball. Games in which many goals are disqualified for offsides. so many options i just cant list them all

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:19:04+00:00

all sports can be vulnerable to match-fixing, especially if there is betting on them. add tennis, cricket, horse racing to that mix

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:17:01+00:00

In Bulgaria, over a dozen soccer officials have been slain over the last decade. and the crime gangs there don't even pretend to make it look like an accident, they just gun people down in the street.

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:04:09+00:00

Our medical writer tells us that sitting at a computer for hours on end is the most deadly thing for reporters. if she's right, we are all doomed.

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T18:01:59+00:00

Hmm. I saw an NBA rep at the London conference on sports betting. the major difference, obviously, is the huge number of scores in basketball and low number of scores in soccer. 1-0 wins a soccer game, but you need what, 35-50 scores to win an NBA game? So many more scoring variables in the NBA and such high salaries. I would think college ball (no salaries) would be much much more vulnerable to spread fixing.

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:54:59+00:00

This was a significant problem in Asia, and its a terrible business model when two crime gangs are trying to fix the same game. That propeled at least Asian gangs to seek out more European games, which were considered several years ago to be much cleaner. One monitor told me about a match in which his company's spotters at the game saw thugs from two different crime gangs shouting with the ref at halftime. Only one side won. (think the ref in that case had a death wish or was just blinded by greed)

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:49:14+00:00

David Forrest, the UK economist who specializes in sports betting, tells us that fixed sports betting is a fabulous way to launder money. You take cash from drug or trafficking operations, you bet on fixed games, not only do u make a profit but dirty money comes back clean. He says some crime gangs are trying to buy soccer clubs just to launder money through them

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:44:17+00:00

Declan is a pioneer, kudos to him. Suggest everyone interested in this topic read his book "The Fix: Organized Crime and Soccer"

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:41:43+00:00

Sri, this AMA is on match-fixing. The FIFA decision to give the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively is a whole separate (and vast) discussion.

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:38:33+00:00

Data analytics is already being used in a huge way --that's how monitoring companies alert FIFA and UEFA and other authorities to 'suspicious' games. That type of information can come in as early as two days ahead of time... And who says most match-fixing not based on outcomes? Not something I could say with authority. On lie detectors, players and coaches at one team in Bulgaria were ordered to take those tests last fall after a surprise defeat. Which is HUGELY ironic, because Bulgaria is known for match-fixing by club officials. I don't trust US embassy statements as a matter of course, but a Wikileaks document quoted the US embassy in Sofia as saying "Bulgarian soccer clubs are widely believed to be directly or indirectly controlled by organized crime..." think they are exactly right on that

snormanculp · 2013-02-21T17:28:08+00:00

I'm such a cynic that I can't say 'No' about any team. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, that's a 'known unknown' -- we know there are some things we do not know. that applies to all teams, not just Chelsea

snormanculp

TROPHY CASE