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.
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.”