Basketball Australia ramps up fight against ‘courtsiders’, rogue betting syndicates
Courtsiders deployed by illegal offshore bookmakers are being busted every week at venues around the country as Basketball Australia ramps up its fight against rogue gambling syndicates.
Basketball
Don't miss out on the headlines from Basketball. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Rogue bookie scouts are being busted weekly at Australian basketball venues.
Basketball Australia has confirmed the “data scouts”, deployed by illegal offshore bookmakers and also known as “courtsiders”, are targeting NBL and WNBL matches in every state.
News Corp has established the crackdown has already netted 16 evictions, including two from Melbourne Arena, one of Australia’s most protected venues.
Due to Australian Open requirements, Melbourne Arena is protected by monitored closed-circuit cameras scanning the crowd during matches trying to identify any wrongdoers.
Live stream selected games of the 2019/20 NBL Season with ESPN on KAYO with your TV, Mobile, Tablet or Laptop. Get your 14 day free trial & start streaming instantly >
The WNBL has been most affected with matches often played at venues ill-equipped to identify rogue operators.
The live streaming of matches, which results in up to 15-second delays, also plays into the hands of dodgy gamblers.
There is no suggestion any Australian basketball matches have been compromised by the data scouts or their employers.
A source confirmed most, if not all, of those sprung this season were Asian students, who in some cases have been duped into thinking courtsiding was an accepted practice.
While not illegal, data scouting is a breach of the general ticketing terms and conditions.
Basketball Australia’s head of women in basketball Lauren Jackson endorsed the crackdown.
“This is a side of sport I never really knew existed until I got into administration,” retired Opals legend Jackson said.
“Now, how prevalent it actually is, it is mind-boggling, we have got to be really vigilant in the way we put our sport on show and our stance towards this.
“The first six rounds of the (WNBL) I’m pretty sure there’s not too many games that have gone by where they haven’t been escorted out of the venues.”
Courtsiders basically feed point-by-point commentary to underground gambling syndicates in real-time to get an edge on market fluctuations.
“That 15 seconds buffer could potentially be a very worthwhile pay off,” Jackson said.
“I think it’s something that’s probably across all sports but we definitely have got Basketball Australia onto it, clubs know who they are (and) what they look like.”
It comes after Cricket Australia revealed last month more money is wagered on a Women’s Big Bash League fixture than any given NRL or AFL match, with 90 per cent of the interest from the subcontinent markets, including crime gangs that set up illegal betting rings.
Basketball Australia introduced a courtsiding policy last year and remains “hyper-vigilant”.
The sports’ integrity unit provides all NBL and WNBL teams with targeted education on identifying rogue data scouts and weekly eviction updates.
The NBL is officially partnered with a data analytics company, which relays play-by-play information to authorised and licensed bookmakers.