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The Documentary: Does the House Always Win?

A Punter Fills out a Betting Slip

09/12/2015 GMT

Does the House Always Win?

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Does the House Always Win?

In-game betting is becoming hugely popular but does it threaten the integrity of sport?

In-game betting is becoming hugely popular but does it threaten the integrity of sport? Simon Cox investigates.

Betting on the outcome of sporting fixtures is so last century. Now you can take a punt on practically anything that happens within a game – from who will win the first set in tennis to who will score the first goal in a football match. The world of in-game betting, where gamblers test their skill and luck almost as the action happens, is growing as the lucrative new frontier for the betting world - and is particularly popular in the huge Asian market.
With events unfolding so quickly, time is everything. But because the television pictures are always a few seconds behind the real-time action, punters at live events will have an advantage over those watching at home or in a betting shop.

Simon Cox looks at how some exploit the TV delay either by betting online directly from the event or by sending in scouts with hidden devices to feed the information about what is happening ahead of the official television pictures. He speaks to the first person to be arrested whilst court-siding in Australia and accused of trying to corrupt a betting outcome.

So what lengths are people prepared to go to gain those crucial seconds that give them an advantage? And what evidence is there that in-game betting poses a threat to the integrity of some our most popular sports?

(Photo: A punter fills out a sports betting slip. Credit: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images)

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