Tennis Umpires Banned for Gambling Offenses

An investigation by the ITF this week has resulted in two tennis umpires banned for life over allegations they were involved in tennis-related gambling

The ITF investigation revealed that the two tennis umpires banned used a mobile device to communicate scores of the game to a third-party who would place live bets. This particular game took place in Israel last September.

The investigation also made US gambling news by revealing that the tennis umpires purposely delayed imputing the score of the match into their PDA device in order for their third part contact to place live bets with inside information. Lastly, the ITF reports that the two umpires manipulated scores by adding fake deuce games into their PDA device for over seven months.

The ITF commented on the news by stating, “Uzbekistan tennis officials Sherzod Hasanov and Arkhip Molotyagin have been banned for life and had their ITF officiating certification permanently revoked after being found guilty of offences under the Code of Conduct for Officials." The two tennis umpires banned will be unable to ever officiate a tennis match again.

Will this have any effect on tennis?

According to multiple reports, tennis is considered the sport most under threat of illegal gambling-related offenses. Over the past three months, there have been 41 reports of suspicious sports betting activity, 34 of which came from tennis.

It seems unlikely that this particular story will have much effect on professional tennis. The ITF is working diligently on stopping illegal gambling, and third party companies have been hired to catch players and officials involved with betting on matches.

Do you think the two tennis umpires banned should be imprisoned? Is gambling that big of a problem in tennis? Leave your comments below, and make sure to check out GamingZion’s list of online sportsbooks in the US to find all the best websites for betting on tennis!