An illegal bookmaker in Singapore has been sentenced to a year in jail along with a $390,000 fine. The Singapore Times reports vegetable seller Goh Weng Soon took bets on football illegally and plead guilty to 11 charges at a court on March 21. When arrested he was found with $146,000 of his loot on his person – we can only assume he’d hidden inside the cavity of a pumpkin. It also came out that he would serve 19.5 months on top of the year, as he’s unable to pay the substantial fine mentioned earlier. The court heard that Goh took $288,000 between February 1 and March 7, 2011 on which he stood to gain over $80,000.
A British tabloid is reporting that Premier League footballers are betting thousands with on-site bookies. The Sun quotes a former England international as saying: “They aren’t match fixing, they just like to bet on the one subject they know something about. At one club, we had a bookie who would come to the training ground and lay our bets with a bookmaker.” The mystery player also said that injured players enjoy the “buzz” of gambling as it replaces the one they get from playing the game.
European football’s governing body UEFA has stepped up an inquiry into match fixing surrounding a Euro 2008 qualifier. Two prosecutors flew to Malta earlier this week to probe the fixture between Norway and Malta at the Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo. Norway scored three in the last 20 minutes of the game and the probe stepped up after it was revealed three Malta players met Croatian fraudster Marijo Cvrtak in a hotel prior to the game. Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo told a press conference that the association’s probe had found “overwhelming evidence” that showed fixing may have taken place.
