Spanish police arrested 34 people with known links to a tennis match-fixing network that allegedly manipulated tournament bets in Spain and Portugal.
The bets were made on the men's matches and they earned a profit of more than half a million dollars, as per the Interior Ministry. The detainees include six tennis players and two ringleaders who have allegedly worked together to arrange the loss of tennis matches in at least 17 sporting events. While the tennis players were not named, they were relatively lower-ranked as per the authorities, ranging from 800 to 1200 worldwide. If the detained are convicted of sports corruption, they can face up to four years in prison.
Operation Futures began after the police received a tip from the Tennis Integrity Unit, an anti-fraud body based in London and funded by the seven major stakeholders of tennis--the International Tennis Federation, the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour and the WTP Tour.
The case picked up when the authorities noticed there were an unusual amount of online bets related to the suspected tours, mostly in the Futures and Challengers--the lower levels of the men's pro tennis tournaments. The Futures are single-week contests organized by the International Tennis Federation and offers $10,000 - $25,000 prizes. The Challengers are second-level events organized by the ATP.
The network allegedly used social media and instant messaging applications to attract more online bettors. Bribes were paid to the players using a former tennis player as an intermediary who are connected to the players involved. Those who participated received $1,000 per match or in some cases, they were asked to lose points or games.
Match fixing has become a major concern in tennis, especially in the lower pro levels. Tennis officials have come up with new measures to ensure independent review of the sport's anti-corruption program last January to restore public confidence of the sport.
