MADRID, December 1, 2016

The Spanish police witnessed a considerable success in the fight against betting manipulation in tennis. As reported by the authorities on Thursday, 34 Spaniards have been arrested, suspected of manipulating bets in tournaments across Spain and Portugal. There are also six players, not mentioned by name, who are ranked between 800 and 1,400 in the ATP Rankings.

“The players are the real victims. They were promised amounts of 500 euros or 1,000 euros to manipulate matches. In the end they received only 50 euros,” said a police officer of the French news agency AFP.

In the course of their investigations, the police deals with matches of at least 17 tournaments. Since January betting in tennis has become a big issue again. The BBC and the US-American online platform BuzzFeed News reported that over the past ten years, a total of 16 players from the top 50 – including a Grand Slam winner in doubles – were involved in manipulations.