The part at the end is so typically stupid, imagine you go to the spokesperson and say "gee do you think the game was fixed?" What is he going to say???
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LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - British bookmakers are convinced a betting coup took place surrounding Wednesday's UEFA Cup match between Greek side Panionios and Georgia's Dinamo Tbilisi.
The extraordinary betting patterns related to the match, which Panionios won 5-2 after trailing 1-0 at halftime, caused several bookmakers to suspend betting.
"I have no doubt that this was a betting coup," said Graham Sharpe at William Hill. "But whether it was a betting coup based on a fixed result is another matter."
"You often see unusual betting patterns that you can subsequently put down to a bandwagon effect."
British bookmakers have increasingly exploited the possibilities offered by the internet to take themselves into new markets.
"This was a worldwide coup," said Caspar Hill at Betfair, an online company that acts as broker for gamblers around the world to bet against each other.
Odds offered on Betfair for Dinamo Tbilisi leading at halftime and going on to lose went from a relatively normal 36-1 down to 5-1 before kickoff, while the odds on Panionios winning came in from 4-7 to 1-4.
Both these patterns indicate heavy betting on those outcomes, although Hill said that in Betfair's case that might not have been just normal gamblers.
"To have so many people calling up asking about a 5-2 result is very unusual to say the least," Hill added.
"My own view is that the traditional bookmakers were getting worried and tried to hedge their positions with Betfair."
The explosion of online gambling in recent years helps explain why British bookmakers were taking bets on a UEFA Cup Group D match played by two unglamorous clubs in front of 2,500 fans in Athens.
"A few years ago this match would have been inconsequential but we now have clients in these markets and feel obliged to offer odds," said Sharpe, who added that his company had lost 10,000 pounds ($19,380).
UEFA officials said on Thursday they were gathering information but had not yet launched an official investigation.
AUDIT TRAIL
Hill said Betfair, if requested, would share what information they could with European soccer's governing body about the betting patterns.
"Unlike traditional bookmakers, our technology allows us to have an audit trail," he said.
"We have a number of agreements with sporting bodies such as the English FA and Jockey Club which allows us to share the names of the people who have had a bet.
"We were talking to UEFA about signing such an agreement last week.
"We could still show them the graphs of the betting patterns but without the agreement we can't give them the names because of (Britain's) Data Protection Act.
Some bookmakers have criticised the new UEFA Cup group format this season, which has eight sections of five teams with the top three going into the last 32, because it offers greater possibilities of "dead rubbers".
That was not the case in Tuesday's match, however, as Panionios still have a slim chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds.
Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi have both rejected match-fixing allegations.
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LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - British bookmakers are convinced a betting coup took place surrounding Wednesday's UEFA Cup match between Greek side Panionios and Georgia's Dinamo Tbilisi.
The extraordinary betting patterns related to the match, which Panionios won 5-2 after trailing 1-0 at halftime, caused several bookmakers to suspend betting.
"I have no doubt that this was a betting coup," said Graham Sharpe at William Hill. "But whether it was a betting coup based on a fixed result is another matter."
"You often see unusual betting patterns that you can subsequently put down to a bandwagon effect."
British bookmakers have increasingly exploited the possibilities offered by the internet to take themselves into new markets.
"This was a worldwide coup," said Caspar Hill at Betfair, an online company that acts as broker for gamblers around the world to bet against each other.
Odds offered on Betfair for Dinamo Tbilisi leading at halftime and going on to lose went from a relatively normal 36-1 down to 5-1 before kickoff, while the odds on Panionios winning came in from 4-7 to 1-4.
Both these patterns indicate heavy betting on those outcomes, although Hill said that in Betfair's case that might not have been just normal gamblers.
"To have so many people calling up asking about a 5-2 result is very unusual to say the least," Hill added.
"My own view is that the traditional bookmakers were getting worried and tried to hedge their positions with Betfair."
The explosion of online gambling in recent years helps explain why British bookmakers were taking bets on a UEFA Cup Group D match played by two unglamorous clubs in front of 2,500 fans in Athens.
"A few years ago this match would have been inconsequential but we now have clients in these markets and feel obliged to offer odds," said Sharpe, who added that his company had lost 10,000 pounds ($19,380).
UEFA officials said on Thursday they were gathering information but had not yet launched an official investigation.
AUDIT TRAIL
Hill said Betfair, if requested, would share what information they could with European soccer's governing body about the betting patterns.
"Unlike traditional bookmakers, our technology allows us to have an audit trail," he said.
"We have a number of agreements with sporting bodies such as the English FA and Jockey Club which allows us to share the names of the people who have had a bet.
"We were talking to UEFA about signing such an agreement last week.
"We could still show them the graphs of the betting patterns but without the agreement we can't give them the names because of (Britain's) Data Protection Act.
Some bookmakers have criticised the new UEFA Cup group format this season, which has eight sections of five teams with the top three going into the last 32, because it offers greater possibilities of "dead rubbers".
That was not the case in Tuesday's match, however, as Panionios still have a slim chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds.
Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi have both rejected match-fixing allegations.
) that act quickly on a mistake. Another ploy now with the help of exchanges is taking a price then touting a win or so called coup and selling out at the lower figures, it happens every day.
