Frankfurt\’s District Attorney confirmed that prosecutors are investigating another match-fixing scheme by gamblers in German soccer, three months before the country hosts the World Cup.
Thomas Bechtel said a group of gamblers tried to influence the result of at least five games by approaching players and offering several thousand dollars. At least one player received a payment, but Bechtel declined to name any suspects.
Local newspapers reported four men have been arrested for fixing the betting on the number of goals scored on at least five second division and regional league matches.
In November 2005, German referee Robert Hoyzer was sentenced to 29 months in prison after admitting fixing matches in return for payments from Croatian gambler Ante Sapina, the mastermind of Germany\’s worst soccer betting scandal in 40 years.
Theo Zwanziger, President of the German Soccer Federation (DFB), launched an investigation, but said the scandal appeared limited. He said no referees have been linked to the ongoing investigation.
Earlier in the week, the German Constitutional Court stated that following on from the oral hearing of 8 November 2005 into the efficacy of the state\’s gambling monopoly, the First Senate of the Constitutional court will announce its decision on the matter on March 28.
Elsewhere, A Vietnamese newspaper quoted Vice Sports Minister Huynh Vinh Ai as saying the government is considering a plan to legalize soccer betting in a bid to stop rampant illegal gambling and generate up to $50 million a year to be invested into sports development.
Ai said legalizing soccer betting in Vietnam makes sense as a way to control a huge public phenomenon that has generated multiple scandals in the country\’s soccer industry.
“In Vietnam, the interests for betting are huge,” he said. “We therefore need to have a legal formula on betting on soccer matches.”
Ai said the government has not yet decided whether to allow bets on only domestic matches or open it to international games.
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