Former Tennis Star Jimmy Connors Wagered on Himself to Win Wimbledon

Former Tennis star Jimmy Connors released his memoir 'The Outsider' last week which touches on his roller coaster career in Tennis and his personal life. Some interesting topics that are touched on is Connors competitiveness along with his gambling habits. He stated that he placed big wagers on himself to win Wimbledon at a London betting house. This is oddly familiar territory like Pete Rose and baseball. I have not read this book yet or know if this is answered in the book so questions remain if he bet on Tennis often, was he always betting on himself and was he always betting on himself to win? Will we see the International Tennis Federation take any action even though Connors is already in the International Tennis Hall of Fame or will history be left in the past?

Youth Football Gambling Ring Busted

A gambling ring in South Florida has recently been shut down by authorities. This gambling ring wagered on youth football in the South Florida area, yes you read that correctly youth football. Guess you can gamble on anything these days. Nine men pictured above were arrested including several coaches. Coaches met prior to games to set point spreads while parents were gambling in the stands. This was  not your friendly wager of five dollars between parents who know each other but rather full on gambling with the youth football championship game bringing in a total of more than $100,000 wagered on this game alone. There was no evidence that players were encouraged to play one way or another or even knew about the betting. If the coaches set the lines who is to say they didn't influence play calling. It was reported that several of these coaches have criminal histories so I wouldn't be surprised if they swayed things one way or another depending on the money being bet from side to side to further their own winnings. Hope this serves as a lesson to the kids, parents and coaches, gambling does not belong around children!

2008 Irish Olympian Investigated for Illegal Betting

With the Olympics under way an unnamed Irish Olympic team member from the 2008 squad is being investigated for placing bets against themselves and instead on an opponent as reported by the BBC. The unnamed athlete is believed to be competing at the current 2012 Olympics and has been informed of the current allegations. This will be a story to follow up on once the Olympics conclude and more information becomes available. This just goes to show that every level of competition can be corrupted but even more sad because this is for his or her country in this case.

IOC to Combat Game Fixing

The International Olympic Committee recently held meetings to discuss match fixing and illegal gambling.  At least someone is finally admitting it happens but doubt anything will change.  Check out the article from Examiner for more on this sports news development.

Playboy Explores the National Fix League (NFL)

Matthew Kredell of Playboy recently explored the world of gambling and the NFL or what some of us like to call the National Fix League. He explores both sides of the table, those who want NFL gambling legalized and those who don't (the NFL). The NFL claims they don't want their games legalized for betting because they maintain integrity and fear this would lead to corruption. They also claim in their history not one game has been fixed. Those are both complete laughers to me. They also mention something I have read quite a few times that they have contacts at the Vegas sports books so they can be notified of irregular betting patterns or possible corruption. I laugh at this too. I think these contacts feed them the information on where the money is so they can manipulate the outcomes of these games. NFL and casino owners have so much power and money they don't want to share it. Do you think these bigwigs would let that kind of money be left to chance? NFL teams and casinos should not have any communication what so ever if they want integrity. If NFL gambling were legalized they can't control all the winnings they rake in every year. Talk about greed! If it was legalized state deficits could be reduced, jobs would be created and the teams themselves could make more money than ever. Although this article is not too detailed it does bring up some good points. Check out this article and worse case scenario you have some Playboy bunnies to check out so you really can't go wrong.

Management Betting on Clients - Ted Forstmann

Chairman of the most powerful management company (IMG) in Tennis Ted Frostmann has been accused of betting millions of dollars on sports events including tennis events involving his own clients such as Roger Federer.  Forstmann admitted to betting $40,000 on Federer to beat Rafael Nadal at the 2007 French Open final which Federer ended up losing.  Both Federer and Nadal are IMG clients.  Forstmann states he did nothing wrong it was just bad judgement.  Tennis just introduced an anti-corruption program this year which forbids management and entourages from betting on tennis so will probably be cleared of any wrongdoing.  These insiders have the most current and inside information such as player injuries and therefore should not be allowed to bet regardless if there was an anti-corruption program or not.  Although he lost this bet who knows how many other matches he won on insider information on his very own tennis player clients?