The Australian National Rugby League (NRL) has issued suspensions to five professional players for betting on rugby league matches.
David Williams of the Manly Sea Eagles has been banned for the rest of the season, while North Queensland’s Ethan Lowe and Gold Coast’s Cody Nelson were handed two-game suspensions.
Hymel Hunt and Slade Griffin, both of Melbourne Sotrm, were also issued with two-match suspensions.
The NRL has also suspended nine casual game officials for the rest of the season in addition to terminating the contracts of three other officials.
In addition, the NRL also issued first and final warnings to 12 registered NRL players, staff and officials who placed small, isolated bets on rugby league matches.
The NRL noted that none of that staff that received warnings were in senior roles or able to influence the outcome of games.
The suspensions come after the NRL completed an investigation into alleged betting on league matches.
Last month, the NRL said that there was no evidence of widespread involvement of professional players betting on matches and that, in the majority of cases, the amounts wagered were very small.
However, the NRL’s regulations prohibit any player, manager, club employee or match officials from taking part in rugby league-related gambling.
Jim Doyle, chief operating officer of the NRL, said that while the investigation did not find any evidence of serious abuse of its betting laws or match-fixing, he warned that anyone that does breach betting rules can expect a lengthy suspension.
“For players and officials we’re saying that if you bet on rugby league… you’re taking a significant risk of losing your job or being significantly suspended,” Doyle said.
“This is not a one-off for us, we’re not going to do this just today; we’re actually going to go through this process on a regular basis to audit everything we can.
“In the past, these types of investigations would’ve been on a reactive basis, something happened; [there was] a whistleblower or some sort of context and then it would have been investigated.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done an investigation anywhere near the extent of what we’ve done. The NRL will continue to work with the betting agencies to ensure there is no threat to the integrity of our game.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
