• Australian Open

Possible betting conspiracy hits Australian Open

ESPN staff
January 16, 2014

A British man has been charged with illegal gambling from the stands of the Australian Open after supposedly attempting to beat delays in TV coverage using an electronic device stitched into his shorts.

Daniel Dobson, 22, has been accused of a practice known as "courtsiding", where information is relayed to gambling associates in real-time, rather than via television pictures that can take up to 10 seconds to be shown "live".

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The charge against Dobson is "engaging in conduct that would corrupt a betting outcome", which came into force in the Australian state of Victoria last year and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. It is also an illegal practice in the UK under the 2005 Gambling Act.

Dobson has been bailed, and told to surrender his passport. His representative claims that Dobson was sending data to an international betting company to help them set odds as matches progressed.

The Daily Telegraph reports that there were 23 ejections from county cricket grounds in the UK last summer for courtsiding, while Wimbledon had two such incidents occur in 2011.

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