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Swedish Referee in Trouble for Betting Fraud
By Shane Addinall Jan 16, 2021 IndustryA professional football referee has been accused of illegal sports betting, after placing wagers on matches that he was officiating. This is only the latest charge in a string of felonies that he has already been sentenced to jail time for.Things have gone from bad to worse for a Swedish football official, who is due to face charges of betting fraud. The well-known referee has hosted domestic Swedish League football games, Champions League matches, and various other international tournaments and games in his career.
Unfortunately, his seemingly sterling reputation on the field is what makes his secret shocking.
In September, the arresting officer in the case refused to rule out that match-fixing would not be added as a charge in the future. Detective Lindegren said:
“It cannot be ruled out that this is a matter of match-fixing. We have not yet come this far in the investigation. In this case, there is no suspicion that the persons are connected to serious organised crime. But fraud is otherwise a crime category of strategic importance that is often used in organised crime.”
With the latest charges, it is alleged that the official bet on the outcome of games that he officiated himself. Knowing that he would have a part to play in how the match could play out, it is determined that he had an unfair advantage when placing the bets and was willfully deceiving his bookmakers.
Nothing New Here
The latest betting fraud charges are added to a list of crimes and felonies allocated to this un-named sporting professional.
He is currently sitting a 4-and-a-half-year jail sentence for defrauding small businesses and individuals out of around SEK 6.8 million in cash. It was found that he gained payment for telephonic subscription services which he never did deliver on.
In addition to his jail time, he is required to pay back SEK 4.5 million in damages to six plaintiffs.
Three accomplices have been linked to the fraud, but they have got off on more lenient charges, including suspended sentences and community service.
Sports Betting Security
The mere fact that a sporting professional can lodge a bet for a game that they are responsible for, calls into question the security protocols that are in place in the online betting industry. While such actions cannot compromise the security of other betters so much, it can have a big impact on the integrity of the business and stands to lose sports betting sites massive amount of money.
In the past, sports betting has resulted in a number of scandals in sport. One of the earliest examples was in the 1919 World Series, when MLB player, Pete Rose, was convicted of illegal gambling.
In 2002, Tim Donaghy was eventually caught betting on games that he was officiating. After his trial, he admitted that game six of the 2002 NBA Western Conference finals was rigged. This not only cheated the bookies but stole millions of dollars from the coffers of the sports teams themselves.
Surely, these measures should have been strengthened over the years? It cannot be too difficult to register key professional sports players and officials on a database that flags when betting is made in their names, can it? Account verification has come along way in the past few years, but it is now time to link that process with a third-party database to stamp out cheating of this nature for good.
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