Curbing online betting ‘key to controlling match-fixing’

BUDAPEST — Limiting online betting to matches in the world’s top leagues would help cut down on fixing because those games are not as easy to manipulate, said convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal.

Wilson Raj, now living in Hungary, on Wednesday presented the local edition of his book, Kelong Kings, which details his exploits and shows to what extent football and football betting are corrupt.

“The best thing to do is to curb online gambling,” Wilson Raj said. “Even if licenses are given to some companies, betting should be limited to high-level leagues, which are not easy to corrupt.”

Players’ high salaries in the top leagues would make bribing efforts too expensive. Said Wilson Raj: “I would be crazy to fix a match that I get no financial benefit from.”

He added that while football authorities such as FIFA and UEFA had introduced some measures to cut down on corruption, “to stop match fixing completely is something that I don’t think can happen” for now.

Wilson Raj said since football outside the top leagues is “not a lucrative business”, club owners and players relied on revenues from match fixing.

“In order to stay afloat, some clubs and some players are still involved in match fixing”, especially in less developed regions in Eastern Europe and Asia, he said.

Wilson Raj, who said he now gambles on football only for fun, speculated that a few years back a match in Hungary — on which bets of €250,000 (US$312,000) could be placed in Asia — could be fixed by giving each of five players €10,000 (US$12,500).

The Singapore native, whose testimony has also helped convict several of his former associates in his homeland, says he does not feel any imminent threat to his life.

“I’m not under witness protection,” Wilson Raj said. “If someone wants to take revenge it is not in my hands but I’ve enjoyed my life and I’m not afraid to die.”

Wilson Raj is also the key witness for the prosecution in a Hungarian trial involving 12 defendants, including Tan Seet Eng, a Singaporean also known as Dan Tan, the alleged head of a crime syndicate suspected of rigging matches around the world. AP