CSA anti-corruption unit to keep their guard up in SA20 after bookies bust in Potch

After cracking down on potential betting corruption at the recent Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20 Challenge, CSA are planning to strengthen their security during the SA20 which is set to be a big target for bookies.

TimesLIVE recently reported that about 25 bookies were caught conducting prohibited activities during the T20 Challenge in Potchefstroom last month and were banned.

CSA's anti-corruption officer Louis Cole said the bookies were from Australia, England, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and South Africa.

“We were acting according to anti-corruption rules which prohibit live betting at games or communicating any data to the outside the stadium,” Cole said.

“Some bet for their own purposes and some provide live commentary on the game to bookmakers overseas who then bet on the information.

“They make use of the time delay between live play and broadcast overseas,” he said.

“They then place a bet and obviously make money from that.

“It’s a very lucrative business for them. It can be a bit difficult to observe them when the stadium is full, but usually it’s quite easy to spot them.”

Speculation has been that bookies have targeted SA20, the country’s new premier T20 tournament, as another tournament where they can make a killing.

However, Cole said CSA already has plans in place to ensure there will be no space for anyone to try to conduct illegal activities.

“I’ve got the capacity of every venue and we have doubled our capacity. We will be ready and we are expecting to be very ready in that tournament,” Cole said.

He said bookies sometimes go as far as contacting players for inside information that includes player availability, batting order and weather patterns that can give them better chances of winning o their bets.

“These people endanger the careers of our players,” Cole said.