The Guardian newspaper in the UK today reported the French Tennis Federation (FFT) had launched legal action in Belgium to try to prevent betting on this year’s French Tennis Open taking place in May. The case, to be heard on April 11, targets Bwin, Betfair, and Ladbrokes in the hope that a decision in its favour would set a precedent or discourage others from setting markets on the event.
The paper reports that the FFT is planning a similar action in Germany and that it has already taken cases against Unibet and Expekt, which is says have already offered betting on the Open.
The British broadsheet quoted the FFT managing director Jean-François Vilotte as saying, “About 150 sites offered to take bets on the matches at Bercy. On Betfair alone, the leading site by far, bets worth €230m (£173m) were placed. In all, we can estimate that between €500m and €1bn was committed during the tournament, peaking at €15m per match in the final rounds.”
The rationale behind the French action appears to be concerns over match-fixing, which could happen as a result of heavy betting on an event, and the FFT’s insistence that it should be the sole beneficiary of commercial benefits from the tournament.
