French, Bulgarian, Spanish, and Romanian authorities have halted a criminal group that set up an intricate match-fixing system for tennis matches. The group ensured large profits for their clients by arranging the winners of the matches between 2018 and 2024. During an action day, authorities arrested 15 suspects in France, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain and conducted searches to collect evidence.
Suspicions of match fixing arose when higher-ranked players were defeated and also missed strategically important points during matches. Cross-checking other matches and players, as well as reviewing alerts from international sports betting companies, revealed a link between the matches. As the majority of the bets were placed on the same players losing a set or match, suspicions of match fixing continued to grow.
As investigations continued, authorities discovered that some bettors had only created accounts for the targeted bets. They also discovered that bets were placed simultaneously in different countries, contradicting the progress of the match at the time the bet was placed.
The group is suspected of paying several players ranked above 100 in the ATP rankings to deliberately lose a set or match. Financial transactions showed that the network was mainly run from Bulgaria, with the help of intermediaries in other countries. Currently, authorities have identified gains of EUR 800 000 from the match fixing.
Eurojust coordinated the successful international cooperation for the investigation. Meetings at Eurojust’s premises enabled authorities from France, Bulgaria, Spain and Romania to exchange information, plan the joint action day and work together on the investigation. Decisive actions against the criminal group were carried out simultaneously in Bulgaria, Spain and Romania. Nine suspects were arrested in France and four in Bulgaria, where properties were also searched. One suspect was arrested in Romania as well as one in Spain, where searches were also conducted. Investigations into the criminal group are ongoing.
The actions were carried out by the following authorities:
- France: JIRS Marseille (Interregional Specialised Jurisdiction of Marseille); SCCJ (Central Service against Prohibited Gambling)
- Bulgaria: Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office; National Investigation Service
- Romania: Prosecution Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice; Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism - Central Office; Prosecution Office of the Court of Appeal Pitesti; Romanian Police
- Spain: Anticorruption PPO; Central Investigative Courts num 3 and num 4; Audiencia Nacional; Judicial Police attached to the Anticorruption PPO and UDEV Central-CENPIDA
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union