Wimbledon launches betting probe

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2006

LONDON (AFP) — Wimbledon tennis authorities have launched an investigation after unusually large amounts of money were waged with an online betting firm on a first round match, it was reported.

Huge sums of money were placed on Argentina's world number 89 Carlos Berlocq to lose his match against Britain's number 259 Richard Bloomfield, the Daily Mail claimed.

Berlocq slumped to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 defeat in just 76 minutes to a man who had never won a match on the main tour before Tuesday.

The newspaper said that more than 300,000 pounds (545,000 dollars) was matched on the Betfair exchange alone for the clash - around 30 times as much as had been placed on comparable games involving British players and unheralded foreign opponents.

Betfair were so...