Betting Investigated on First-Round Match

The first-round Wimbledon match on Court 17 was watched by no more than dozens and only by that many because a British native, Richard Bloomfield, 23, was playing against Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.

Apparently, many more people were betting on underdog Bloomfield to win. So many that Betfair, an online gambling site, said Wednesday it reported irregularities to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which runs the four major tennis tournaments -- Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Opens.

In that Tuesday match, Bloomfield, who needed a special wild card invitation into Wimbledon because his computer ranking of 259 wasn’t good enough to qualify, posted a spirited 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Berlocq, who is ranked No. 89 in the world. The British crowd gave a standing ovation to the ecstatic Bloomfield and Wednesday, British papers reported that as much as $546,000 had been bet against Berlocq.

By Wednesday night, Bloomfield was out of the tournament, beaten quickly by German Tommy Haas, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4). And he was puzzled about the brewing controversy about his first-round win.

“To be quite honest,” Bloomfield said, “I don’t think any of this has anything to do with me. No one has talked to me about it and during the match I didn’t see anything unusual. He’s a player more comfortable on clay. I’m familiar with grass. I never bet myself.”

The British love betting. There are betting parlors on nearly every street corner in some neighborhoods. Gambling has been legal for more than 40 years and the British love betting on their most cherished sporting event, Wimbledon.

You can get odds and bet now on the chances of Andre Agassi’s 4-year-old son Jaden Gil winning Wimbledon in 2022. Agassi, by the way, is still playing in the 2006 Wimbledon.

But Tony Calvin, a spokesman for Betfair, said Wednesday that while the amount of money bet on the Bloomfield-Berlocq match wasn’t out of line, “it was the betting patterns that we found suspicious. Hundreds of punters (bettors) were gambling on such short odds. A lot of people were willing to spend 20 pounds (about $37) to win 10.”

Calvin said that his company cut the odds on Bloomfield beating Berlocq from 1-2 to 1-10. “That was the sort of activity that led us to contact the ITF and the Lawn Tennis Assn.,” he said. The association runs British tennis.

Of working with betting agencies, Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock told the Associated Press on Wednesday: “In the Grand Slams, we have an agreement with them to give us confidential information if unusual betting patterns take place. This may be nothing or it may be something.”

Babcock, though, would not confirm that he had received any information from Betfair. “We will not comment unless there is reason,” he said.

The rules for both the Grand Slam tournaments and ATP Tour events are the same -- players and their coaches cannot bet on tennis. Players found to have broken the rules are subject to a three-year suspension and a $100,000 fine.

Three years ago, Russian star Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who had been a consistent top-10 player, reportedly was involved in a similar situation in a tournament in Lyon, France, that led to betting being suspended on his match against little-known Fernando Vicente. Vicente, in fact, ended a 12-match losing streak with a 6-2, 6-3 win.

According to the British papers, it was the large amount of money bet on what was considered an unimportant match that caught the attention of tennis officials.

Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for William Hill, a major bookmaker and betting company here, said: “The biggest bet we took on Bloomfield was 3,000 pounds. Punters can be unpredictable animals. There are bets on all stages of Wimbledon, just like the World Cup. There have been cases when people have bet when they know players are not fully fit.

“Bloomfield is a Briton expected to play his best against someone coming back from an injury. Where do you start to look for corruption?”

According to Robert Walker, sports book director for MGM-Mirage who oversees 13 Las Vegas casinos, most sports wagers are on football, baseball, basketball and boxing. Tennis is a very small part.

“For us, it is about one-tenth of 1% of our total,” Walker said.

By comparison, Betfair’s Calvin said tennis “is one of the greatest income-earners for us.”

William Hill’s Sharpe said his agency has already taken a 30,000-pound bet from one person on fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova to win Wimbledon.

Walker of MGM-Mirage acknowledges he too keeps close watch on all sports wagering, looking for suspicious patterns.

Of what happened at Wimbledon, he said: “The situation should certainly raise a red flag because it’s the beginning of the event and it involves two bottom players, no disrespect intended.”

Pucin reported from Wimbledon, and Stobart from London. Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this report.