Exotic bets come under AFL's integrity microscope

ELEANOR HALL: The Australian Football League confirmed today that it's investigating a series of what it is calling exotic bets, which may have been made as a result of insider knowledge.

The concerns were raised by bookmakers, and the AFL says they underline the need for federal laws to outlaw cheating in sport.

In Melbourne, Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: It takes a lot to raise the eyebrows of seasoned bookmakers, but a series of bets on three matches in the AFL's rounds seven and eight earlier this month did just that.

The bet was 'first goal kicker' and the money went on defenders like Hawthorn's midfielder Brent Guerra, Brisbane's Daniel Merrett and in round eight Brisbane's Matt McGuire.

Uncharacteristically, each player started in the forward line up.

Most of the bets on the Brisbane players were taken 24 hours before the matches started and in the case of Brent Guerra, more than an hour before he took to the field.

There's no suggestion that the players themselves were in any way involved in the betting plunges.

Bookmaker Alan Eskander explains.

ALAN ESKANDER: Brent Guerra was backed from 100:1 into about $51 to kick the first goal, and that was due to the fact that he was playing in the forward line and that's unusual for him to be playing in the forward line. And as a consequence $101 was the wrong price.

So it still comes back to that point of disclosure of information, and somehow out of the club, I suspect that potentially that information in a really innocuous way may have been leaked into the public if you like.

And then someone from the public tries to gain advantage through that information. And so that's something that really needs to be clamped down. That's something where we need to educate the clubs and the people surrounding the club that are privy to that information that they need to be careful because it is sensitive.

ALISON CALDWELL: The AFL has confirmed irregularities are being looked at by the code's integrity officer.

The AFL's general manager of football operations is Adrian Anderson.

ADRIAN ANDERSON: I'm not going into the details of any of the investigations underway by our integrity division. But, what they do do regularly is monitor all betting trends on all games and look into any instances where they believe there is any suspicion of disclosure of inside information.

It's very important the inside information rules, because we've seen from other sports such as cricket that that's often where problems begin, and we're determined to do what we can to protect the integrity of our game.

ALISON CALDWELL: There's so many people, aren't there, that can know this sort of information, so many people involved in the club.

ADRIAN ANDERSON: That's correct and, you know, sometimes there is an innocent explanation, as that somebody observed something at training, such as a defender training up forward or practising goal kicking. So it's not always because of a disclosure of inside information, but where there are unusual betting trends we have access to that information and we need to investigate that and make sure that we're satisfied that there's been no improper activity.

ALISON CALDWELL: The AFL is spearheading the push to have cash betting made accountable through data-based wagering.

Adrian Anderson again.

ADRIAN ANDERSON: We've subsequently received assurances from TAB Corp, who do a lot of the cash betting, about protocols and procedures they can put in place to meet our concerns. And what we're going to do is monitor that over the next 12 months before making a - coming to a final view.

ELEANOR HALL: That's the AFL's Adrian Anderson ending Alison Caldwell's report from Melbourne.

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AFL investigating exotic bets

PETER CAVE: The AFL is investigating whether recent betting plunges on so called exotic wagers were prompted by clubs leaking inside information about team selections and strategies.

Bookmakers are concerned about recent plunges which leave them exposed and undermines the integrity of the game.

There's no suggestion players themselves are involved in the betting.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: The AFL has today confirmed a series of recent plunges on so called exotic bets are under investigation by the league amid concerns clubs may be leaking sensitive information.

It's bets like 'first goal kicker' which have raised eyebrows in recent weeks.

Bookmaker Alan Eskander explains.

ALAN ESKANDER: There's been a couple of incidents over the last few weeks where a normal defender is all of a sudden for one week playing in the forward line, and prior to the match there is unusually high interest in backing a defender at 100:1 into 50:1 to kick the first goal.

With people suspecting that they are going to play out of their normal position, there's information that's leaving clubs in a really innocuous kind of way, like they're not trying to cause any harm or do anything wrong, and it's getting into the hands of people who think they might be able to profiteer from it.

So what we need to be looking at is the disclosure of information.

ALISON CALDWELL: There are concerns that inside information about positional selections, or who's playing where, have been leaked out of clubs.

There's no suggestion whatsoever that the AFL players themselves are in any way involved in the betting plunges.

ALAN ESKANDER: I believe that a player or a club official or a sponsor who's privy to this information might be sitting at a barbecue on a Saturday night before a Sunday game, saying, oh well, Daniel Merrett's playing in the forward line this week, isn't that funny, rather than playing in the back line.

And then someone's ears prick up at that barbecue and then they might think, oh well I'm going to go and have $50 on him to win the first goal, to kick the first goal.

ALISON CALDWELL: One of those bets that you were talking about is the one where the Hawthorn defender Brent Guerra was backed; can you tell us about that one?

ALAN ESKANDER: I mean that was a similar situation where Brent Guerra was backed from a 100:1 into about $51 to kick the first goal, and that was due to the fact that he was playing in the forward line, and that's unusual for him to be playing in the forward line. And as a consequence $101 was the wrong price.

ALISON CALDWELL: In the round seven clash between the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns, regular Brisbane full back Daniel Merrett went forward at the start of the game.

Twenty-four hours ahead of the match, he was backed from $101 in, to $15 dollars in.

Alan Eskander says clearly punters are getting good information about line-ups ahead of time.

ALAN ESKANDER: It's exactly like insider trading in the stock market.

ALISON CALDWELL: This sort of activity would really leave bookmakers like yourself exposed, wouldn't it?

ALAN ESKANDER: Yes it does leave us exposed. My primary concern is the public conception of it. And if the public perceive that something untoward is happening in a sport, that's a very dangerous place to be in. And any sport, or code, administrators need to ensure that that doesn't happen.

PETER CAVE: Bookmaker Alan Eskander, Alison Caldwell was our reporter.

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