Match Fixing Thread - 18.05.22 10 Arrested in LOI Match Fixing Probe

[total hoofball]

I don't think it would be the actual result, more the handicap.

I definitely remember Sligo -2 and Shels -2 as two of the hot bets that season.

Was talking to a mate last night and with hindsight about halfway through that season a good few of our group just stopped going

It wasn't cos they were ****e, they were nearly always ****e, it was more just pitiful after Paud stopped paying out and you were hearing mumblings and it kind of became what's the point.

I distinctly remember betting a couple of bob on that Sligo game because when I saw Limerick were up 2 0 I remember giving out to the person that told me.

As for it reflecting on the whole league, it's potentially a problem across the whole league. Once you stop paying fellas what you said you'd pay them you kind of lose and moral high ground. And Limerick and Paud were hardly unique in that circumstance. I can think of four clubs off the top of my head where I heard similar down the years. So could most of ye being honest. It's football at league of Ireland level.
Over the years in the LOI most of the players involved in suspected/rumoured match fixing have been fully paid every week, I know of one who was on €500 per week part-time. Wages paid or unpaid they're scumbags end of it's a criminal offense

[TonyD]

The concern for me is tarring the entire LoI with the same brush (there were certainly rumours during the Connor year around Dundalk on players betting habits and we did break a UEFA record on red cards in a season to boot). At a confirmation yesterday family members that are more GAA than I fell over themselves to 'talk' to me about it, mud sticks - could it undermine the recent surge in general interest in LoI? Or would that lean too much in to melodrama?

Just on this, it was interesting to see the amount of media coverage this generated. Much more than any actual football issues it seemed to me. Not saying it shouldn’t be reported, I just wish the media would show as much interest in on field matters.

[total hoofball]

Reported today by Dan McDonnell that games going back as far as 2016 are being investigated

I wonder if Limerick's only defeat of the 2016 season away to Cobh after they clinched the First Division title is under investigation? Only just brief poor quality clips of the two goals are on youtube no other footage

https://www.extratime.com/matches/detail/28714/2/

[Martinho II]

I am just curious will these players attempt wot ex ATFC player Laubauts did in 2017 after being charged with match fixing he went to UEFA and won his appeal?

[Kiki Balboa]

Reported today by Dan McDonnell that games going back as far as 2016 are being investigated

I wonder if Limerick's only defeat of the 2016 season away to Cobh after they clinched the First Division title is under investigation? Only just brief poor quality clips of the two goals are on youtube no other footage

https://www.extratime.com/matches/detail/28714/2/

McDonnell also said a player in the premier was with a top team. I wonder if those two things are related?

Nobody was charged with anything. So hypothetically, if a fella was arrested and released he would be able to play this weekend? It would be an unbelivable thing if the club knew this that a player was arrested, but still allowed the player to play.

[Stav]

I think this should be let run its course. No point in speculating about people who may not be involved. Let the DPP do the job and see what happens. "Innocent until proven guilty"

[JC_GUFC]

A lot of things mentioned here can't really be bet on in League of Ireland games, or certainly not for huge stakes that would make it worth doing deliberately.

Essentially all you can bet on for big stakes are match winner, number of goals & handicaps. In the Sligo v Limerick game the apparent fix was on -2 and -3, so once Limerick went 2-0 up it had to finish at least 6-2 for the bet to come in. Clearly all 11 players weren't in on the fix - Karl O'Sullivan scored twice and Jack Brady saved a penalty!

Also looking back at an apparent fixed game and pointing out mistakes doesn't prove anything. It's League of Ireland Division 1 - there are a lot of ****e players! Analyse most goals and you can find some lad out of position or misplacing a pass - it doesn't mean he's in on a fix.

In reality this should be reported on by crime journalists - take away the players, of which 7 were arrested, the question is who are the other 3 people? They're clearly the ringleaders and most likely involved in criminality of other kinds - if the Gardai can pin match fixing on them they will - the Gardai in general don't really care about match fixing at all.

[EalingGreen]

A lot of things mentioned here can't really be bet on in League of Ireland games, or certainly not for huge stakes that would make it worth doing deliberately.
Not in your local Paddy Power shop they cant.

But this will almost certainly involve online gambling sites, often based in the Far East and invariably illegal in the countries in which their punters live.

And in such circumstances the stakes can be huge, even eg on an LOI First Division match, if that's what happens to be playing in a given time zone.

In fact, the original tip-off to the Gardai very possibly came from overseas regulators (or even anonymously from disgruntled punters?).



Also looking back at an apparent fixed game and pointing out mistakes doesn't prove anything. It's League of Ireland Division 1 - there are a lot of ****e players! Analyse most goals and you can find some lad out of position or misplacing a pass - it doesn't mean he's in on a fix.

Fair point.

But as against that, they may have suspicions about some of these error-ridden games, but lack the proof to investigate further. I mean, if certain games were successfully rigged as far back as 2016, then there's every incentive to carry on doing so in the six years since, at least while no-one is getting arrested and jailed etc.



In reality this should be reported on by crime journalists - take away the players, of which 7 were arrested, the question is who are the other 3 people? They're clearly the ringleaders and most likely involved in criminality of other kinds - if the Gardai can pin match fixing on them they will - the Gardai in general don't really care about match fixing at all.
Indeed.

[redarmyfaction]

Fixing a 6-2 scoreline sounds like you’d need a lot of people in on it , people betting on that particular score in large amounts would be particularly obvious to me anyway….

I doubt anybody would lay you in excess of €50 for a 6-2 score in a game like that. the idea that Asian punters are staking enormous sums on LOI games on shady websites in the far east is beyond ludicrous. You might get some scammer online to "lay" your bet but try getting paid.

[JC_GUFC]

Not in your local Paddy Power shop they cant.

But this will almost certainly involve online gambling sites, often based in the Far East and invariably illegal in the countries in which their punters live.

And in such circumstances the stakes can be huge, even eg on an LOI First Division match, if that's what happens to be playing in a given time zone.

In fact, the original tip-off to the Gardai very possibly came from overseas regulators (or even anonymously from disgruntled punters?).




But on these sites you can’t bet on red cards or correct scoreline.

It’s only the total goals, which was the fix in the Longford v Athlone match where they just kept betting on another goal to be scored at odds so ridiculously short it made it look like they knew there would be another goal, or the Asian Handicap market, i.e. how much a team will win by.
There is no regulator, per se, but UEFA do have a partnership with a firm which overlooks all the betting sites in the world and alerts as to unusual betting patterns.
They won’t necessarily see the stakes and certainly won’t see who the customers involved are but when they see a big gamble on a particular team they’ll be able to estimate the stake involved and whether that is unusual for that particular league and to what degree.

[EalingGreen]

I doubt anybody would lay you in excess of €50 for a 6-2 score in a game like that.
They don't go for exact score ante-post bets. They gamble on wins/draws/defeats with + or - goals, with odds changing as the match progresses and the score changing.


the idea that Asian punters are staking enormous sums on LOI games on shady websites in the far east is beyond ludicrous. You might get some scammer online to "lay" your bet but try getting paid.
"Industry insiders believe the worldwide online sports betting market (which operates mostly from Eastern Asia, which accounts for an estimated 80% of their activity) to be worth 1 trillion US dollars in terms of bets placed, of which 600 billion US dollars are thought to be wagered in China alone; give or take a billion or two, roughly the combined GDPs of Sweden, Finland and Norway."
http://josimarfootball.com/the-trillion-dollar-gambling-game/

Of course no-one is suggesting that LOI Championship football is a focus for this trillion dollars(!), but even a minute fraction gambled on a minor European soccer league, or a youth tennis tournament in Argentina; or Kenyan basketball, or even two cockroaches crawling up a Hong Kong wall will attract these gamblers, since they don't give a stuff about the actual event, just the chance of winning.

And as the above article points out, events like the English PL are just too big, too well regulated and too scrutinised to be able to fix them.

Add in money laundering , tax evasion and the organised crime generally behind these sites, and you have ample motive for them offering odds on eg LOI football games and their customers for having a punt.

[Jd2793]

I doubt anybody would lay you in excess of €50 for a 6-2 score in a game like that. the idea that Asian punters are staking enormous sums on LOI games on shady websites in the far east is beyond ludicrous. You might get some scammer online to "lay" your bet but try getting paid.

the punters are from all over the world. there will be loads of irish/uk punters using asian bookies.

[redarmyfaction]

the punters are from all over the world. there will be loads of irish/uk punters using asian bookies.

Really, and you know this how?

[Jd2793]

Really, and you know this how?

because i use them and know loads more that do too, both here and in the uk.

[redarmyfaction]

They don't go for exact score ante-post bets. They gamble on wins/draws/defeats with + or - goals, with odds changing as the match progresses and the score changing.


"Industry insiders believe the worldwide online sports betting market (which operates mostly from Eastern Asia, which accounts for an estimated 80% of their activity) to be worth 1 trillion US dollars in terms of bets placed, of which 600 billion US dollars are thought to be wagered in China alone; give or take a billion or two, roughly the combined GDPs of Sweden, Finland and Norway."
http://josimarfootball.com/the-trillion-dollar-gambling-game/

Of course no-one is suggesting that LOI Championship football is a focus for this trillion dollars(!), but even a minute fraction gambled on a minor European soccer league, or a youth tennis tournament in Argentina; or Kenyan basketball, or even two cockroaches crawling up a Hong Kong wall will attract these gamblers, since they don't give a stuff about the actual event, just the chance of winning.

And as the above article points out, events like the English PL are just too big, too well regulated and too scrutinised to be able to fix them.

Add in money laundering , tax evasion and the organised crime generally behind these sites, and you have ample motive for them offering odds on eg LOI football games and their customers for having a punt.


I am sorry but the whole Asians will gamble on anything like cockroaches, El Classico etc. comes across as plain racist but letting that go, do in you have any evidence other than bald assertions from anonymous 'industry insiders' cited on a random website, because there is actual real and easily available data out there on transactions on LOI games. It is not complete but it is representative and if you would condescend to examine it you would know that liquidity on outrights is low and liquidity on individual derivatives is a single figure percentage of that at most to zero at least. Low liquidity and low scoring events provide very little to no opportunities for match fixing since unusual patterns are easy to spot and potential rewards small, not to mention

The ideal event to fix is one with high liquidity and high scores where one player can make a difference, US college basketball spreads is one, tennis games IR is another one. I am not saying that nobody ever tried to fix an LOI game but anybody who did was a fool.

[redarmyfaction]

because i use them and know loads more that do too, both here and in the uk.

Why do you and your friends use Asian bookies? I never have and know nobody that has.

[CraftyToePoke]

Not LOI specific but related to goings on here, story breaking in Wales tonight about match / spot fixing in the UK lower leagues with a European wide slant on it as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61507085

[2 Year Contract]

More arrests made today in relation to this

https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2022/september/operation-brookweed-day-of-action-in-relation-to-match-fixing-in-the-league-of-ireland-15th-september-2022.html

[EatYerGreens]

More arrests made today in relation to this

https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2022/september/operation-brookweed-day-of-action-in-relation-to-match-fixing-in-the-league-of-ireland-15th-september-2022.html

Any word on whether they were players or staff at LOI clubs ?

[Nesta99]

It's a bit more than a couple of semi pro types trying to top up earnings betting on the number of corners when Interpol have flown people in from Lyon as part of the investigation.

[Kiki Balboa]

Seems like the last East coast based player that was in the first round of arrests has started on the bench tonight (per livescore).

[redarmyfaction]

https://www.thejournal.ie/league-of-ireland-spot-fixing-6314271-Mar2024/

Is there any layer offering prices on sendings off in our league?

[redarmyfaction]

For illustrative purposes, Flutter who claim to be the largest betting organisation in the world would only give me 28.75 @ 9/1 out of a requested 50 on the pretty hard to fix finish last in PL market, who is going to lay enough to cover a 30K bribe and make a profit in a sending off market?

https://imgbox.com/FtZ3IgOD

[listowelceltic]

You wont get that money on that sort of bet with any main stream bookie. Must be black market or asian markets.

[redarmyfaction]

You wont get that money on that sort of bet with any main stream bookie. Must be black market or asian markets.

I don't think Honest Fu Manchu (or any of his ilk) are sitting in the back room of the opium den, spinning on the abacus to price up the sending off markets in next weeks first division games then carefully inking them in Chinese characters on a ledger made of human skin in the expectation that some heavily disguised Donegal County Councillor will be ushered in looking for 20 large, a pony about his nephew getting sent off next Friday "and do you need some wee planning for a windfarm in the Stacks when I'm here hey?", no sirreee Bob.

[Shinkicker]

A very good friend, involved in sports marketing told me about seven years ago there was a Chinese betting company interested in LOI & IFA matches. They wanted to invest numbers we could only dream about, but it was shot down by both organisations.
Now we see this. It doesn't surprise me in the least.