AllTheWorld'sALine
SkinnerBoxVille
From Reuters:
...The Turkish Football Federation suspended 149 referees and assistant referees earlier this month, after an investigation found officials working in the country’s professional leagues were betting on football matches...
{snip}
...One referee had placed bets 18,227 times and 42 referees had bet on more than 1,000 football matches each...
Gosh.
Not sure about you, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been so juiced about anything that it has resulted in me doing that thing 18,227 times in my entire life.
Unless, I guess, I were to count PCR reactions...
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11 comments:
The easiest way to start an argument with an ardent sports fan, is to say that most pro sports are either fixed, or scripted. Never fails!
Interesting point...Taken to its logical conclusion, I suppose that means that pro wrestling is the most honest of the spectacles with regards to its fixed scriptedness.
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Pro wrestling Ross, probably the most kosher pro. sport out there
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/09/cleveland-guardians-pitchers-indicted-gambling.html
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/nba/heat-terry-trail-rozier-blazers-billups-arrested-in-a-federal-gambling-probe-reports-say-9.6949849
Crookedness in football? Shocking.
Keith--
The case of the Emmanuel Clase, the presumably no longer closer, of the Cleveland Indians, demonstrates just how insidious/addictive the Casino-In-Pocket juice is. Essentially, the money was made on microbets where Clase tipped his pitches so that his cronies could bet on them making up to $400K in one game according to the criminal indictment.
Now.
It has been reported that Clase made approximately $5-$10K each time he did this, which has apparently been going on since 2023.
In 2025, Clase pitched in 48 games. So even if we assumed he had action in every single game, which is probably high, he would not have made more, at the top end, than $500K.
Which seems like a lot, until you realize that Clase made $4.9 million last year and was set to make $6.4 million in 2026.
That's some juice, that Casino-In-Pocket juice.
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Beer--
At this point, I would not be surprised to learn that there is crookedness, In the form, for example, of microbets taken on the length of the two-by-fours being cut at the sawmill...
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Yes Ross, I couldn’t get my head around why they would put themselves in the frame for relative peanuts, and the fact that there are two of them from the same team is a plot thickener. It's almost a slam dunk there are more of these cases to come.
As an added bonus, the manager of the Guardians has been named the A.L. manager of the year, runner up John Schneider of the Jays.
M.L. B. reaction....
https://www.mlb.com/news/limits-on-pitch-level-markets-announced
As they say, "money makes the world go round"
We have a variety of swports where billionaires "own" multi millionaires who some times become billionaires. then we have the support crews who don't make that much money. Hardly seems fair now doesn't it.
Back in the 70s and prior we had bookies who helped people "earn" a living. Of course over time casinos spread, gambling became part of government revenue. Still some were being left out. they decided to get their share also. Referees used to do it for the love of their game, but all that money...........
When businesses get larger and larger there is room for mistakes and planned mistakes. It becomes easier to look past it so every thing stays on "schedule". I'm sure some one or many some ones knew about all of this, but to keep business going, it just keeps going. No one wants to up set the game and income. Some one either due to the love of the game, love of the rule of law, or just got left out, we now all know.
This isn't a game any more. This is very big business worth billions upon billions, just the cost of stadiums. And no company or government is going to stop gambling on sports or make it illegal. Gambling ought to have been left in the hands of the local bookies. Some were fine, others not so much.
Any where there is a lot of money there is a lot of crime.
Keith--
That limits thing on pitch level markets is a very small finger in a very, very large leaky dike.
But then, I've hated that team from Toronto ever since Mr. Mulroney was rumoured by no one but me and my editor at the time to have considered instituting a BJST in the fall of 1992. And no, a non-existent ibogaine binge had absolutely nothing to do with either generation of the rumour itself or the desire to use the Blue Jays to jump start a VAT tax in this country.
As for Schneider being passed over in the present...Personally, I think it's fitting somehow given that the one timehe did NOT pull a starter prematurely (i.e. Gausman, Game 2 of Series) the move blew up in his face.
And besides, I like Vogt...But, then again, I'm a sucker for former A's never quite beens - especially when they go out like this.
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eaf--
And baseball is a business that the billionaires, none of whom has ever lost a dime by owning team, especially when it comes time to sell, will soon crash to the ground when they lock out the players, hard, after the current contract agreement ends after the 2026 season.
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@ Rossk
To further your point about Baseball crashing after 2026, I am of the opinion that professional sport itself will crash due to greed.
No great rugby player was I (in the day '70's to mid 80's), I still played in the old VRU 2nd Div. which was basically a farm team for the 1st Div. teams and was considered a much harder league to survive in.
We were never paid as Rugby Union was strictly amateur back in the day and we could not even have advertising on our uniforms from a sponsor.
The games were mostly free to watch and one could see some of Vancouver's top athletes in action, yet at best we could see only 30 (at the most) spectators mostly girlfriends and spouses.
It hasn't changed much and my son who now plays 1st Div., games may see 50 or 60 spectators, mostly retired players, practicing the "older I get, the better I was" gambit.
But still the quality of play and the athleticism is on par with many of the professional sports available.
Back to the realities of the 2025's, a friend of mine, took his grand kids (3 I think) to a hockey game and it cost him, including tix, parking and an early supper, almost $800.
Personally, I will watch a game for free and savour the moment, than spend that sort of money, to what I consider, over priced talent and an owner, who has more than enough tax breaks, to continue flying his private jet.
I think the FIFA world cup games will be, in part, the coup de gras for professional sport in the city, as all sport will truly become the sport of kings, because the peons, who pay the bill, cannot mortgage enough to buy tickets for a game.
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