U.S. Tennis Association Hires Safir's Firm to Prevent Gambling
24/08/2007 |
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The U.S. Tennis Association hired a security consulting firm founded by former New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir to help prevent gambling during the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 27.
USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said the White Plains, New York-based organization is ``showing more aggressiveness'' in enforcing its ban on gambling in the wake of recent incidents involving the men's tennis tour and the National Basketball Association.
SafirRosetti will have personnel on the Flushing Meadows, New York, site of the U.S. Open, and others watching patterns of betting connected with the year's final Grand Slam tournament.
Neither Widmaier nor Safir would say in telephone interviews how many people were involved or how much SafirRosetti was being paid.
``We don't believe there is a problem, but we want to educate ourselves to what can be better,'' Widmaier said.
He added that the USTA is re-emphasizing its policies against gambling to players, officials and others involved in the U.S. Open. For the first time, reminder signs with the USTA policy against gambling have been posted in locker rooms and areas used by players, officials and tournament and medical staff, while a telephone hotline will be available to report violations anonymously.
``They want to make sure that the event is on the up-and- up,'' Safir said, adding that he felt that the USTA didn't have a problem with gambling.
Recent Events
Two incidents have made organizers more aware of problems caused by gambling.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in federal court in Brooklyn on Aug. 15 after being implicated in an FBI investigation into illegal betting on games. He quit the league July 9.
The ATP Tour has been investigating irregular betting patterns on an Aug. 2 match involving Nikolay Davydenko, who was a U.S. Open semifinalist last year and seeded fourth this year. The U.K.'s biggest online betting house voided all wagers for the first time on a tennis match after the odds on a Davydenko victory began to lengthen even after he won the first set. Davydenko retired because of injury in the third set after splitting the first two with 73rd-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello at the Poland Open.
Safir and Joe Rosetti, a former security director for International Business Machines Corp., formed SafirRosetti in 2001, a year after Safir ended a four-year tenure as New York's police commissioner. Safir said the firm has worked with horse racing's New York Racing Association and other sports organizations he wouldn't identify.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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