The first grand slam in tennis isn’t even a few days old and already, it’s already generating some off-the-court news on the gambling front.
A 22-year-old British man found that out the hard way after was charged at the Australian Open for court siding, a form of court-side betting that typically involves putting bets on point outcomes throughout a match. The unnamed bloke already caught the eye of police leading up to the arrest. According to the Victoria police, the man was already being watched by authorities at Melbourne Park, eventually swooping in to make the arrest and charging him with one count of engaging in conduct that would corrupt a betting outcome. A Thursday court date has been scheduled with the man set to appear at a Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
It was a case of bad timing for the young lad who, if he had done court-siding last year probably wouldn’t have been arrested. But last April, Victoria enacted laws against “court-siding” with offenses carrying penalties of up to 10 years in prison. ‘Victoria now has specific legislation that covers offences related to cheating at gambling,” Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said in a statement.
Ashton also added that steps are already being put in place to monitor matches for the remained of the tournament to dissuade anybody who had ideas of doing their own court-siding.
The swift action taken by local authorities caught the eye of Tennis Australia, which applauded the work of the police in apprehending the crook before emphasizing that the two bodies are coordinating measures to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.
“[We} will continue to co-operate as much as possible in a pro-active fashion to remove any illegal activity from our sport,” Ann West, the Australian Open’s business compliance and risk manager, said. “We have arrangements in place with Victoria Police regarding security and sharing of intelligence. We will continue to do whatever is necessary.”
