UPDATE: RunningBall has issued a statement on the situation, reprinted in full at the bottom of this article.
UK-based digital sports media firm Perform Group is wearing egg on its face after a subsidiary provided data to UK bookmakers on a football match that never existed. RunningBall, a Swiss-based firm Perform acquired in 2012, released a statement earlier this week saying it was “aware of irregularities” involving an Aug. 4 exhibition match between Spanish second division football squad Ponferradina and Portugal’s Freamunde. Those irregularities include the fact that Freamunde was actually playing a Portuguese League Cup match against a different opponent.
The cockup has left some UK bookies scrambling to make amends with bettors who placed wagers on the outcome of the ‘phantom’ match. Exchange betting specialists Betfair have voided all bets on the match, saying the RunningBall scout who relayed the ‘live’ match info had failed to realize Freamunde was playing a different team. Gala Coral has announced it will honor all ‘winning’ bets and refund ‘losing’ bets to ensure no punter is negatively affected. A Coral rep told Bloomberg the company was “awaiting more information on how and why this occurred.”
RunningBall claims to employ 1,000 such scouts in over 70 countries to supply it with real-time match data. The company’s investigation into the brouhaha is ongoing, but it says it has yet to find evidence that the unidentified scout in question had engaged in any impropriety.
Freamunde’s own website reportedly displayed the result of the exhibition match as 2-1 to Ponferradina and also listed two bogus future matches against different Spanish teams. Freamunde issued a statement calling the incident “regrettable” while denying any involvement. The suggestion has been made that the website may have been hacked. The Spanish league has asked the police to investigate the “ghost game.”
Federbet, a Brussels-based non-profit watchdog group with a mission to expose betting chicanery, was first to report the discrepancy between RunningBall’s report and reality. Federbet was roundly criticized earlier this year after submitting a report to the European Parliament that claimed widespread fixing was taking place in European football matches without providing much evidence to support their allegations.
The statement from RunningBall:
“On Monday 4th August, a football match took place to which a RunningBall scout was assigned and was present. The match appeared to take place as scheduled and there were no grounds for suspicion regarding the integrity of the match at the time. The match data was recorded accurately and in line with RunningBall’s protocols. Some two days after the match, RunningBall learned that the players that took part in the match were not from the teams scheduled to play, even though they were wearing the correct team colours and otherwise appeared to be in order. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no irregular betting patterns in relation to the match.
A thorough internal investigation has been carried out by RunningBall and no issues with the RunningBall data, systems or processes have been identified. Neither RunningBall nor any of its personnel have been involved or implicated in the irregularities around the teams or otherwise.”
