6-Oct-09. Latvia federation bans team for gambling. Globe and Mail, S3.

Latvia’s soccer federation has banned Dinaburg FC for the rest of the season after receiving information that the general manager and head coach were betting on the team’s matches.

21-Oct-08. Casino kingpin once took the Fifth 37 times. National Post, AL11.

This article describes the life of professional gambler Lefty Rosenthal who died on Monday at the age of 79. Rosenthal’s fourteen year career as a Las Vegas sports gambler was at the centre of Nicholas Pileggi’s 1995 book Casino and the subsequent film of the same name. He began his career as a horse player, oddsmaker and sports bettor in Chicago, where his non-violent but illegal enterprises were protected by mobsters. His testimony in front of a Congressional subcommittee on gambling and organized crime was notable in that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself 37 times, refusing to answer the simplest questions, including whether he was left-handed.

4-Oct-08. Statistics contradict NBA report on betting. National Post, S3.

Sports betting web site pregame.com has revealed statistics that contradict claims made this week by an NBA investigation that said outcomes of games were not compromised by referees. A 116-page report released by the NBA on Thursday found no evidence of illegal activity by any referee other than Tim Donaghy, who currently is serving a 15-month prison sentence for a gambling scandal that tarnished the league’s reputation. According to the report, the first 15 games of the 2006-07 season refereed by Donaghy had big enough betting to move the point spread by at least 1.5 points. The teams in which the line moved in favour of beat the spread each time.

30-Jul-08. MP hopes betting bill keeps NFL out. Globe and Mail, S7.

Member of Parliament Joe Comartin says he’d be quite pleased if his private member’s bill to legalize sports betting in Canada kept the NFL out of the country. Comartin wants to legalize sports wagering so Canadian casinos have a competitive advantage over competition in the United States, where sports wagering is illegal online and restricted otherwise to the state of Nevada.

23-Jul-08. Minister open to legalized sports betting. National Post, A4.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says he is receptive to a proposal to lift a criminal ban on betting on individual sporting events at casinos. The government has been pressed by casinos and the Ontario government to reverse the Criminal Code prohibition to assist gaming establishments, particularly those that are near the Canada-U.S. border and are drawing fewer Americans. Mr. Nicholson is the MP for Niagara Falls, home of two casinos that could benefit from a change in the law.

22-Jul-08. IOC moves to curb illegal gambling by working with online bookmakers. National Post, S8.

In an effort to curb match-fixing by athletes or sports officials, the International Olympic Committee announced last month it would set up a special unit at the Beijing Games to monitor abnormal betting patterns. Online betting in China threatened to destroy the nation’s soccer league in 2006 when fan protests over alleged match fixing resulted in angry post-game riots and match boycotts.

4-Jul-08. Windsor MP wants law allowing single-game bets at Ontario casinos. National Post, S5.

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin says that betting on individual sports games could generate as much as $3-billion in gross wagering per year and give casinos in Windsor and Niagara Falls an advantage over nearby American casinos. Las Vegas-style sports gambling would require an amendment to the federal Criminal Code, which prohibits betting on individual games. Betting in Ontario is currently limited to the government-run lottery Pro-Line.

20-May-08. Ex-NBA referee deserves probation, say lawyers. Red Deer Advocate, C7.

Lawyers for disgraced professional basketball referee Tim Donaghy say that he should be sentenced to probation because he cooperated in the probe into NBA betting and because he has a pathological gambling condition. The veteran referee pleaded guilty last year to felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated.

20-May-08. 45 matches require review ‘betting patterns’. National Post, S12.

Tennis investigators for the International Tennis Federation found 45 matches in the past five years that need to be studied because of unusual betting patterns. The review was ordered to assess the threat posed by gambling after suspicious betting on a match involving fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in August sparked an investigation.

17-May-08. $400,000 to Wynne, place or show. National Post, S2.

The Wynn Las Vegas casino alleges that former NBA player Charles Barkley owes $400,000 in gambling debts are are seeking to recover it. Barkley claims the debt is a result of a Super Bowl bet. The article also reviews several other gambling-related scandals and mistakes from baseball, horseracing and golf.