Is cricket a safe bet?

Ever since two shillings and sixpence was paid for a `wagger' over a match at Lewes in 1694 cricket and betting have been inseparable. After an Ashes summer that saw gambling interest in the game rocket, they are closer than ever. It is a relationship that may leave many uncomfortable given how illegal bookmakers shamed the game in the 1990s and still threaten to do so. But it is one that is inevitable and will be long-standing.

The legal betting market on cricket is thriving. With the next Ashes series starting in November followed by the World Cup in West Indies next year, the boom shows no sign of busting. Cricket, which hurtled last summer into the top five of sports bet on, with some bookies reporting an 80% increase in turnover, is expected only to increase its share. Late last summer, spread betting on cricket was surpassing that on the Premiership. The World Cup will be the biggest cricket-betting event of all time.

But this added interest reminds the governing bodies of betting's pitfalls. Just how open to corruption is the modern game?

The Professional Cricketers' Association actively ensures players are aware they cannot bet on any cricket. Ian Smith, the PCA's vice-president of legal affairs and responsible for helping draft the ECB's betting regulations, says he had to remind members at the start of this domestic season: "It's not OK even to bet on games they have no involvement in. When we came up with the regulations I consulted everyone to see if there was a way that players could bet on matches which they were not contracted to have influence in. But there was just no way it can be done. Period."

Then there is the corruption. Despite a massive clean-up operation, illegal bookmakers will find ways round regulations, something the former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif warned the ICC about in 2004. Jeff Rees, general manager and chief investigator of the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit, explains: "Sessionbetting, spread-betting and betting on specific events within a game are all on the increase. As these `events' do not necessarily impact on the outcome of the match there is clearly potential for corruptors to seek to engineer `micro' fixing in the hope that it will be undetected. We therefore pay as much attention to potential `micro' fixing as we do to match-fixing and, when it comes to the severity of the penalties, no distinction is made. With the growth of the internet and mobile telecommunications it is important that we remain vigilant."

This is particularly pertinent considering Smith is adamant that match-fixing is still going on. "It would be naïve to think we have sorted out the problem," he says. "These illegal bookmakers are very clever people. They're not the sort who are going to say `oh well, it looks like the authorities have got it all covered'. They'll sit down and think `if we can't get at the players, we'll try someone else'. It has nothing to do with this interest in cricket betting. We've got to be vigilant."

But does this surge of interest in cricket betting actually increase the chances of corruption? Bookmakers and governing bodies believe not, blaming the disgraces of the past on an underworld not connected with legitimate gambling. All parties point out that punters' cash flowing into the right channels is just another example of how cricket has caught the public's imagination. Graham Sharpe, spokesman for William Hill, one of the largest UK-based bookmakers, says: "There is absolutely no reason to believe that an increased interest in cricket betting is anything other than good news for the sport as it demonstrates a greater interest in the game itself, much of it from people who might otherwise transfer their loyalties to rival sports. Increased turnover makes no difference whatsoever to whether a game will be corrupt."

Both the ICC and ECB share this sentiment. Their codes of conduct and the ICC's agreement with the leading betting exchange Betfair (where punters offer prices to each other on teams and players throughout play) to share information, were not in place in the bad old days.

The ICC's Rees says: "Cricket is a growing sport, so there is no surprise that the levels of betting have increased. The increase in betting on cricket may also be indicative of the confidence that has been restored in the sport through the development of a permanent anti-corruption infrastructure. The ICC anticorruption unit maintains an active presence at all international series and ensures strict anticorruption protocols are enforced at all match venues."

At the end of April the ECB signed a code of conduct with the Gambling Commission to crack down on betting cheats and protect the integrity of professional athletes. The ECB is confident the regulations, so stringent that a player could be forgiven for being afraid even to mention the words "bookmakers" or "betting", would be enough. An ECB spokesman explains: "We can't control what people bet on. But if the game becomes more popular it is inevitable that more people will want to."

But rules can be broken and all organisations will not rest easy. Phrases like "we remain vigilant" and "don't become complacent" are common. Even if more people betting on the game does not increase the chances of corruption, it certainly does not diminish it. Besides, the criminals, as Sharpe says, would not try to place their dirty money with traditional bookmakers: "It is unlikely that anyone with corruption in mind would go out of his way to draw attention to the fact."