Gambling is 'still very much part' of cricket, says ACU man

A senior official of the ICC's Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) has admitted that while bookmaking is still a major concern for the game, the situation has improved markedly in the last few years.

"Bookmaking is still very much part of the sport," Nuruddin Khawaja, the ACU's regional security manager, told The News in Pakistan. "But I think we have succeeded to a big extent in keeping the players clear of corrupt elements seeking to soil the sport to make easy money.

"Things today are far better than the crisis world cricket was facing from this menace a few years back."

Khawaja said that although international cricket was still big business for professional bookmakers, the security protocols implemented by the ACU meant that most players and match officials now stayed well clear of bookmakers.

He also denied rumours that a match in India's recent one-day series against Pakistan had been fixed, explaining that the ACU had not found anything of substance in the allegations made by Rashid Latif regarding the result of the fourth one-dayer at Lahore.

But Khawaja admitted that the Indian bookmaker Ratan Mehta had figured in a lot of the investigations, and that he had ties with some players. He added: "The ACU is aware of his activities and is keeping a close watch on him."