{"id":42706,"date":"2016-12-10T14:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T22:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=42706"},"modified":"2016-12-10T09:49:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-10T17:49:49","slug":"australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Ditches William Hill Ads Over Betting Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William
Images such as this, heavy with William Hill branding, will not be seen at the forthcoming Australian Open in Melbourne. But did the bookies get the blame for various tennis authorities\u2019 failure to investigate corruption within the sport? (Image: Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Australian Open tennis championship will not feature courtside advertising for British bookmaker William Hill when it gets underway in Melbourne<\/a> next month.<\/p>\n

The prominence of William Hill\u2019s billboard branding came in for a wave of criticism at 2016\u2019s tournament as it coincided with revelations of a possible large-scale match-fixing cover up within the sport.<\/p>\n

It was alleged that betting syndicates in Russia, northern Italy, and Sicily had made hundreds of thousands of dollars betting on games that investigators suspected had been deliberately thrown by players.<\/p>\n

While there was no suggestion that Hill\u2019s was involved in any way with the alleged infractions, many felt it inappropriate that a bookmaker should have such high visibility at a time when the sport was forced to confront questions about its own integrity.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the bookies got the blame for the failure of various tennis authorities to investigate and discipline their own athletes.<\/p>\n

Whistleblowers\u2019 Dossier<\/b><\/h2>\n

In 2016, William Hill<\/a> became the first ever official sponsor of the Open from the betting industry, a sponsorship deal that was rumored to be worth around A$5 million ($3.73 million).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But just as the Open was getting underway last January, documents passed to the media by whistleblowers revealed that 16 top level players had been strongly suspected of throwing matches over the past ten years and that authorities, knowing this, had failed to act.<\/p>\n

The documents claimed that these players had been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TUI), which led to cries of a cover-up at the highest level.<\/p>\n

While the names of the players were unpublished, the BBC said that eight mentioned in the dossier were due to take the court for at the Open.<\/p>\n

The Solution, Not the Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n

Tennis Australia President Steve Healy confirmed that the decision to pull advertising was based on the backlash against the ads.<\/p>\n

We need to put it in perspective; the arrangements that were struck with William Hill [were] before this issue had such a high profile, and so we’ve worked with our partners to address that,\u201d Healy said.<\/p>\n

William Hill has accepted the decision and is actively supporting the sport\u2019s anti-corruption campaign, he added.<\/p>\n

In January William Hill responded to the backlash by emphasizing the fact that bookmakers work closely with sports governing bodies to fight corruption.<\/p>\n

\n

“Close partnerships between regulated and licensed betting operators like William Hill and sporting bodies are part of the solution to integrity issues, not part of the problem,\u201d William Hill\u2019s Director of Security and Community, Bill South, said in an official statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe have comprehensive information sharing agreements to inform the sport’s integrity bodies, and for the sport to promote licensed operators is key to ensuring transparency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Australian Open tennis championship will not feature courtside advertising for British bookmaker William Hill when it gets underway in Melbourne next month. The prominence of William Hill\u2019s billboard branding came in for a wave of criticism at 2016\u2019s tournament as it coincided with revelations of a possible large-scale match-fixing cover up within the sport. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":42708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralian Open Ditches William Hill Ads Over Betting Backlash<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tennis Australia says William Hill advertising will not appear on court during this year\u2019s Australian Open.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian Open Ditches William Hill Ads Over Betting Backlash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tennis Australia says William Hill advertising will not appear on court during this year\u2019s Australian Open.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-10T22:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-10T17:49:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/9d1d6c3284cd560de5c4bd5fc5be6c47.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/\",\"name\":\"Australian Open Ditches William Hill Ads Over Betting Backlash\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/9d1d6c3284cd560de5c4bd5fc5be6c47.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-10T22:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-10T17:49:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Tennis Australia says William Hill advertising will not appear on court during this year\u2019s Australian Open.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australian-open-ditches-william-hill-ads-betting-backlash\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/9d1d6c3284cd560de5c4bd5fc5be6c47.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/9d1d6c3284cd560de5c4bd5fc5be6c47.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":366,\"caption\":\"Images such as this, heavy with William Hill branding, will not be seen at the forthcoming Australian Open in Melbourne. 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