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Reports that thousands of Zimbabwean punters might be falling prey to bookmakers who are manipulating odds through a sophisticated betting syndicate in local sport and raking in a fortune are very disturbing.
Yesterday, this newspaper carried a story that the local sports betting industry, which has exploded in the past few months as punters search a fortune, could not be providing a level playing field that protects the interests of both the punters and the bookmakers.
Given the phenomenal rate this industry has been growing in the past few months, and the fact that thousands of Zimbabweans now gamble their heard-earned dollars hoping to strike a fortune, it’s scary that there could be an underworld network working to ensure the punters are ripped off.
What we have picked out, which was enough to make us raise the red flag, is that there is a huge difference between the odds offered by international betting houses, and those offered by local bookmakers, for similar football matches or other sporting disciplines.
Even though some of the local bookmakers have been wooing domestic punters in a tough battle for patronage, promising that they offer “international odds”, it has come to our attention that the odds offered are a far cry from those offered elsewhere.
We concede that odds are not supposed to be standard, that is the nature of the industry. But when the difference in the odds is so huge that local punters end up getting half what others around the world, who are using the same US dollar on the same games, it raises eyebrows.
Either there is manipulation of the odds to suit the interests of local bookmakers, who all the time end up winning while punters lose — or it’s a flawed structure that needs to be sorted out so that local punters are not duped and, like their colleagues elsewhere, stand to enjoy their little fortunes as and when they strike it rich.
We understand this is a new industry, especially where local punters can gamble on anything from international football, tennis, cricket, hockey, boxing and things might not be running as perfectly as they should.
In the past, all that local punters were exposed to was horse races, either local ones or international events, and that appears well regulated.
The coming in of other sporting disciplines into the pictures which have seen betting houses mushrooming everywhere in the country, has brought with it challenges which call for scrutiny and strict regulation.
That authority lies with the gaming board and, as they told us on Thursday, everything appears to be above board although many punters are crying foul against an industry that seemingly doesn’t protect their interests and appears bent on ripping them off.
There is no reason why a local punter who has bet his dollar should be given, in the event that he or she wins, about half of what his or her counterpart who made the same bet, using the same currency and amount in another country.
There shouldn’t be any reason, too, why a Zimbabwean, using his international VISA Card, can get far, far more, for betting on the outcome of a certain international football game with an international betting house, while his or her counterpart, who gambles on a similar game and for a similar amount, should be paid far, far less by local betting houses.
The foundation that keeps this industry alive in countries around the world is its commitment to ensuring that it’s based on fairness and that there isn’t manipulation so that punters end up losing all the time or, on the occasion that they win, they pick up peanuts.
We believe the gaming board has done well so far to keep this industry honourable but they should also be the first to agree that, given the emergence of many players when it comes to the bookmakers, there is always that the likelihood that others might manipulate the system to rip off punters.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter