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A former bookie yesterday claimed he had suspected football players could be throwing matches as bookies began giving odds on the games last year. The ex-bookie, who wanted to be identified as Lau, said bookies were warned off giving “hang cheng” (handicapped odds) on local football matches in the mid 1990s, following the crackdown on match fixing by police and the Anti-Corruption Agency.

“Today (yesterday), I read in the newspapers that several players have been detained for match fixing and several more are being investigated. “I believe the numbers should be a lot higher than that, and that there should also be players from other teams besides Sarawak and Police. “I saw it coming a while back as I had noticed, since last year, that local league matches and cup ties had been offered by the bookies together with the usual English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and some others,” said the businessman, in his 50s.

He said the present situation was a little different from when he was involved in illegal betting years ago, as the use of the Internet now played a major role. “There is hardly any use of a `555′ notebook anymore as most punters rely on their notebook computers to access their betting accounts. “That means bookies no longer need to frequent coffee shops or other watering holes to do business. “And I am not just talking about illegal betting accounts with illegal bookies as local soccer is now good enough to be offered betting odds by registered or licensed international bookmakers.”

Lau said recent checks on one of the betting websites owned by a company, regulated and licensed by the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom,revealed handicapped odds being offered on the Malaysian FA Cup quarter-final matches. Meanwhile, Terengganu Football Association vice-president Shaikh Ahmad Tajuddin Shaikh Yusoff said enough irregularities in team performances and results were found in almost every team competing in local leagues in the past few years to warrant investigation.

“But finding proof of match fixing was difficult. “The most we, in management and administration, could do to the suspected players was to slap them with fines or suspension on technicalities or disciplinary grounds. “Then again, when it comes to match-fixing, we cannot just point fingers at the players as the match officials could be on the take to make decisions in favour of one team. “But without proof, all we can do is speculate,” he said.

Shaikh Tajuddin said if some big clubs in European leagues and international players who earn big money could be found guilty of match-fixing, it should not be difficult to think that local players could also succumb to temptation. “The key here is not to dangle a carrot in front of a horse. The best way to avoid such circumstances in this case is by teaching players and match officials about the perils of match-fixing or better yet, by completely removing betting elements from the local games,” he said.

By Christopher Raj; Alang Bendahara; Dennis Wong; Suganthi Suparmaniam
Published by NST : 26th April 2008