Categories: Sports News
| Published On Jan 26, 2016 12:00 am CET  |  Updated on May 2, 2021 1:23 pm CEST | By iGaming Team

Betting suspended at Australian Open after suspicious match

Share

Sports gambling company Pinnacle Sports suspended all bets on a mixed doubles match at the Australian Open. It concerned a match between Andrea Hlavackova/Lukasz Kubot and Lara Arruabarrena/David Marrero. Unusually large amounts of money were placed on the match which led to the decision of Pinnacle Sports.

 

Half a day before the match was due, the heavy betting on Czech Andrea Hlavackova and Poland’s Lukasz Kubot started, causing the odds of Arruabarrena/Marrero winning to go down almost 18 percent within a timeframe of only 30 minutes. Marco Blume from Pinnacle told The New York Times this was a sign that the match may have been fixed and betting on it was stopped 13 hours before it was to be played. After suspending the betting, Blume contacted Victoria Police.

 

We saw a small number of people placing a large amount of money,” Blume told The New York Times. “In context, these matches are rather small. That means that any aggressive betting behaviour is very easy to detect on our side.”

177% up to 5BTC + 77 Free Spins!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of 177% + 77 Free Spins
Casino

In an interview with the same newspaper, Arruabarrena and Marrero contradicted any match fixing. Marrero said he was suffering from a knee injury.

 

The betting suspension by Pinnacle Sports happens after an investigation by The BBC and Buzzfeed is carried out, concerning 16 top-rated players who were repeatedly flagged up over conjecture of match-fixing. It is purported that 8 or more of the named players were in the starting field of the Australian Open.