$500mn gambled in recent Pakistan, India World Cup semi-final

The Age newspa­per quotes Speed as saying that any game involv­ing India attrac­ts about $200 millio­n.

SYDNEY: The money gambled on cricket now is astronomical and if former International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Malcolm Speed believes that at least $500 million was gambled away during the recent World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali, India.

The Age newspaper quotes Speed as saying in his book “Sticky Wicket: A Decade of Change in World Cricket”, that any game involving India attracts about $200 million.

Betfair chief executive Andrew Twaits believes it would be naive to suggest that approaches to players were confined to punters or bookmakers in illegal, unregulated markets.

He argues all states should adopt the Victorian requirement for all betting agencies to gain approval from relevant sport and for all gambling operators to move towards an account-based betting regime.

"The transparency that an account-based model creates is a vital first step towards guarding against corruption in sport," Twaits said in a blog.

“The other vital ingredient is for there to be specific criminal penalties for those involved in gambling-related corruption whether those allegations relate to outright match-fixing or spot-fixing or trading with benefit of price-sensitive information," added Speed.

Speed, now executive director of Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, is expected to recommend both of those things in a research paper in its final drafting stages.

Lord Paul Condon, former chief of ICC anti-corruption unit, told ICC board in 2009 that the absence of Council's investigators from that season's Indian Premier League called into question integrity of the event.

He also expressed concern about the party atmosphere, which enabled easy access to players. ICC investigators now have a presence at IPL and Twenty20 Champions League.