Tennis has been “openly” twinned with financing since the dawn of Open Tennis in 1968. Profit is the goal and often the industry’s annual returns put many investment firms to shame… without being an accountant it would still be safe to say the growth rate has been “Staggering…”
There are a multitude of reasons for what has taken place but one of the recent earning approaches that is unsettling is the proliferation of betting app sponsors…
Before addressing the disconnected “messaging…” that is being sent, it should be remembered that match-fixer Grigor Sargsyan headed a syndicate in Belgium from 2014-18. The International Tennis Integrity Agency began investigating in 2017, and thus far, Sargsyan and 30 players have been sanctioned.
But in 2023, the ATP Tour signed a six-year contract with Sportradar, a technology giant that provides data, analytics and digital content to federations, media companies and betting organizations.
A year later, BetMGM became a major sponsor of Tennis Channel coverage, with commentators regularly providing “BetMGM player picks” for matches. During pre and post-match interviews, BetMGM logos are part of the studio set signage.
In the October 20th edition of CLAY, contributor Ervin Ang wrote an article called, “The dangerous and dark world of betting: ‘I lost a lot of money because of you!’”
In the feature, Ang talks with players on both the ATP and WTA tours about the savage social media abuse they face. Though some protections such as the Threat Matrix AI system have been put in place, players were often reviled, because thanks to them, bettors had lost.
Gustavo Kuerten told Ang, “If social networks had existed in 1997, I wouldn’t have won Roland Garros.”
One of the interviewees, trying to put the situation in absurd perspective, said, “In my opinion, you cannot filter these (comments) out, because then you would be limiting the freedom of speech of people online. For me, that’s a cost we have to pay, but we should be getting commission off the betting.”
In a November article “Bottom Dollar: The Problems With 1xBet in Tennis” on the “Bounces” website, Ben Rothenberg discussed 1xBet’s online sportsbook that isn’t allowed to operate in the US, Australia and many European countries. But 1xBet is engaged in sponsor activity with the ATP Challenger Tour, the Billie Jean King Cup, and the Dallas Open.
In the same issue, “Bounces” visited with a Bellingcat investigator who revealed the 1xBet’s tennis involvement, touching on the questionable betting allowed and the financial support the company has…
Something is amiss… If match arranging is a concern, one doesn’t have to be a stable genius to question the sense of playing doubles with betting apps…
Title image by Olekcii Mach