Banning Betting on Tennis
The French Open has decided to pursue legal means to eliminate online betting on tennis matches at Roland Garros this spring. The French Tennis Federation has sued the major online betting companies in Europe, i.e. Betfair, Ladbrokes, Bwin, to prevent them from offering bets for the 2008 French Open in order to try to avoid a match-fixing scandal. In the legal complaint, which was filed in France and Belgium, the French Open sought
to ban online gambling companies from offering bets on Roland Garros. The French Open organizers claim that online betting stains the reputation of the tournament and that a potential betting scandal related to the French Open could undermine the value of the tournament which generated $175 million in revenue in 2007. The French Open is moving several steps beyond the actions taken by the organizers of the 2008 Australian Open who tried to prevent a potential betting-related match-fixing scandal at this year’s tournament. Will eliminating online betting eradicate the threat of a match-fixing scandal for professional tennis? Clearly, there will always be the opportunity for gamblers to present monetary incentives for professional tennis players to change the outcome of matches. However, eliminating easy access to online betting for tennis tournaments could have a major impact. Tennis is one of the most popular sports for online betting. For example, approximately $750 million to $1.5 billion in bets were placed on the ATP Masters tournament in Paris last fall. In the end, the real focus should be on emphasizing to professional tennis players the harm that will be done to their “profession” by participating in fixing tennis matches. Tennis players should be the winners – not gambling sites.
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