Tennis figures were questioned by British Members of Parliament in a committee hearing. It revealed that the amount of betting alerts they receive has gone up significantly, and they were criticized for the amount of funding they provide to combat match-fixing.
Officials who were called included Tennis Integrity Unit chief Nigel Willerton and ATP CEO Chris Kermode.
The TIU received 14 alerts in 2012, 46 in 2013, 91 in 2014, and 246 in 2015. Those numbers were provided by bookmakers and betting exchanges with which it has sharing agreements, according to Willerton.
That includes matches at all levels, including Grand Slam and tour events as well as Challenger and International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit events. There are far more Challenger and ITF events then there are ATP events. The Grand Slams accounted for five alerts combined in the previous three years.
The rise, Willerton said, came as betting operators "have started to take wagers on the lower levels, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the markers have risen since then."
The amount of alerts represents 0.2 percent of matches played at all professional levels of tennis, Kermode noted.
It also emerged that Pinnacle Sports, described as one of the largest online bookies and a leading provider of bets at the ITF Pro Circuit level, does not have a sharing agreement with the TIU, meaning that any unusual betting patterns it receives are not communicated.
It is the same bookmaker that announced during the Australian Open that betting was suspended on a mixed doubles match involving David Marrero, who was linked to previous suspicious matches by The New York Times. The Spanish doubles specialist said he had a knee injury, and sometimes held back in mixed doubles matches, but denied any improper conduct. His partner was Lara Arruabarrena, who has vigorously denied any wrongdoing. Their opponents were Lukasz Kubot and Andrea Hlavackova.
A story in Melbourne’s The Agesaid that data on the match had been given to Victoria Police's sports integrity department, and one of the gamblers has also been linked to previous suspicious bets. It also contained a critical description of the TIU's handling of the issue, saying that Marrero was allowed to leave Melbourne, and it was days before he received a request for a meeting and a warning not to destroy any data on his phone. This communication was "almost comical," according to a police official.
The story said it had not been established whether he or Arruabarrena was officially interviewed.
Unusual betting patterns are not themselves a demonstration that a match has been fixed.
Different bookmakers and exchanges "have different ideas of what constitutes an alert," said Willerton. "On many occasions an alert may have been triggered by something like a player being injured."
The hearing was prompted by a BBC investigation, published during the Australian Open, which said tennis officials had been given significant indication that match-fixing was occurring, but no players had been banned. *The Guardian* revealed a few weeks ago that two umpires also received unannounced suspensions and four more were under investigation. They reportedly delayed the official scoring of matches and gave gamblers advance scores.
"I can assure the committee that tennis has not got anything to hide,” Willerton said when questioned about the umpires. “My understanding is that under ITF rules, it didn’t have to publish these findings. In December it changed the rules, so as of the first of January those sanctions would have been announced. It wasn’t tennis trying to cover up. It was just the ITF’s policy at that time.”
The Tennis Integrity Unit, funded by the ATP and WTA tours, the ITF, and the Grand Slams, is responsible for policing the problem. It has an annual budget of $2 million and six personnel.
On MP described it as "a tiny amount of money, a tiny amount of resource," and raised "question marks about the independence of the TIU."
The amount will be increasing.
"I've secured funding for the addition of two further staff, one investigator, and one analyst," said Willerton. “I do think that's adequate at this point in time … I have a free rein to go and capture anyone who is guilty of corruption in tennis."
In response to the recent attention, tennis officials during the Australian Open announced plans for an independent review. One of the recommendations Willerton said he would provide is for a more transparent and independent TIU.
While Kermode emphasized the desire for improvement, he also said, "It's never going to be 100 percent independent because we're paying for it."
"The Argentinas and the Chiles, South America, and of course Russia is where we do see several alerts,” Willerton said in regard to the geographical regions where the problem occurs. “In some cultures, corruption is the way they do their business.”
The Daily Mailpublished a story saying it had obtained specific figures from "authoritative sources at the top of the sport," and broke down the tournaments at which alerts were given. About 50 percent were from men's Pro Circuit events, 22 percent were from men's Challengers, nine percent were from women's ITF Pro Circuit events, and 22 percent were from all tour events. There was one alert from a Grand Slam (not Wimbledon).
It did not specify whether this accounted for all the alerts received by the TIU, or the 73 alerts announced by the European Sport Security Association (ESSA).
Officials also pointed to the decision to initiate an independent review.
"We have demonstrated very openly that we are not being complacent, and I believe there is no wrongdoing," Kermode said.
No ITF or WTA officials were called for the session.