Bettor Safe Than Sorry: Aussie Open Attempts To Stop Gambling

Tiley Says Australian Open Began Putting Anti- Gambling Measures In Place Three Months Ago

BETTORS TARGET WOMEN: While Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chair & CEO Larry Scott noted "less than 10" women have reported being approached by gamblers to fix matches, he said, "I believe there are people who have been approached who have not come forward. But we learned enough, let me put it this way, the first half of 2007 to become much more concerned and spring into a new level of action." Martin Vassallo Arguello, whose suspicious victory in an August match against Nikolay Davydenko in Poland initiated the ATP Tour's investigation into gambling in the sport, "harshly criticized the tour's new integrity policies," calling "the fact he could be put in the position of being forced to inform on his colleagues ... 'political terrorism'" (L.A. TIMES, 1/15).

GAMBLING THE NEW DRUG: ESPN tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe said, "Tennis has been way ahead of the curve when it comes to drug testing. ... Gambling, overall, I think is a bigger threat. Tennis is a very easy game to fix." McEnroe added: "When you have players saying they have been approached, that throws up a red flag. That's why this has to be dealt with pretty quickly and severely." In West Palm Beach, Charles Elmore noted that the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP and WTA "have launched an independent analysis of the sport's 'integrity' regulations" (PALM BEACH POST, 1/13).

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