Tennis remains banned from betting during pandemic
As has been documented, the ATP and WTA Tennis circuits are suspended – as are all ITF events – so many lesser tennis players have participated in some exhibition tournaments, with the fact that many of them are available for betting in several houses alerted the responsible entities.
ENVIRONMENT PROPER FOR ILLICIT PRACTICES
In tennis, as in any other sport, it is expressly forbidden for an intervener to bet on sporting events where he can obviously have direct intervention. For this reason, ATP recently sent an email to all professional tennis players alerting them to the possible temptation or enticement that could arise on this occasion, since many tennis players find themselves without raising money for being stopped and without competing.
Now, with these exhibition tournaments – some of them even sponsored by bookmakers – a dangerous ‘pandora box’ opens, which can lead some players to line up in combination or match-fixing because they are tournaments that are not under the protection of the ATP circuit.
This message sent to all players is a clear attempt to dissuade and warns of the potential consequences of abusive acts with regard to this type of practice, hoping that nothing serious will result here, after all we all want tennis to return as soon as possible with major tournaments that pay cash prizes to their participants.
DISPLAY TOURNAMENTS WITH PRIZEMONEY MAY EXTEND
The controversy generated by these exhibition tournaments took place when a bookmaker decided to sponsor one of these events, distributing monetary prizes of 25 thousand dollars and broadcasting the matches live on its website, besides, of course, making bets available for each event.
The International Tennis Series is taking place at a private club in Bradenton, Florida, and even features some relatively well-known professional players from the big stages like Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi or young Bulgarian pledge Adrian Andreev.
According to the specialized website Bola Amarela, it is likely that the Tennis Integrity Unit is already investigating the conditions and format in which the tournament is taking place, and the extent to which it obeys the basic rules of the sport in order to contain the unfortunate phenomena of match-fixing.
Generally, specialists in this type of exploitation of gaps tend to take advantage of them whenever possible and it will be important to safeguard that some players can get involved in situations of corruption at a stage when the competition itself is suspended for known reasons – maintaining health control and control of the spread of Covid-19.
SITUATION MAY LAST UNTIL MID JULY
The ATP together with the ITF declared about a week ago that the official tennis competitions will not resume before 13 July, that is, at best, the professional tennis circuits will only return to action here for about three months. Now, this will open the possibility of a proliferation of this type of resource tournaments and of little media relevance that can allow players to invest some money in times of difficulty.
Of course, and as I have already described, this can raise other sensitive issues with bookmakers and corruption scenarios of professional players, so it will be essential that the authorities are watching these types of events, as well as the players themselves who must think twice. times before diving into these types of dubious situations.
In fact, a simple careless attitude of a player who aligns in this type of storylines can be harmful to a whole category of players and organizations that certainly strive every day to make the sport more credible and eradicate all kinds of illicit maneuvers in such a beautiful way. sport.
BETTERS ALSO HAVE WORD TO SAY
Generally, recreational gamblers or those with more addictive behaviors tend to bet on any available event and this is naturally what enhances event handling.
On the other hand, if bettors do not attach great credibility to tournaments of this kind and treat them merely as exhibition games for some players, ignoring the appeal of betting, they can practically put an end to these types of events that, in a way, they lose their self-sustainability.
I guess many of the readers are already thinking: at a stage when there is such a short supply of events, do you really think it possible that these tournaments will not become highly profitable? Well, unfortunately, I have to agree with you and consider that the most appropriate will be the civil and tennis authorities to remain especially alert during this period.
