Finnish pesäpallo match-fixing scandal

Finnish pesäpallo match-fixing scandal was a match fixing scandal in Finland that involved a large number of players, managers and other team officials of the pesäpallo (the Finnish form of baseball) league Superpesis.

The scam

On 11 and 13 August 1998 players and managers of eight teams fixed five different matches. All games were on the betting list of Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus. Matches were of two last rounds on the Superpesis regular season and they were meaningless for the teams. Four matches out of five ended on a high odds draw after two periods.^[1]

The scam was unveiled a year later. Finnish police interrogated 460 persons involving the scandal. Most of them were never accused due to lack of evidence or for the reason that they were only lucky gamblers who had a hint on the results of meaningless games. Over 30 people were sentenced to fines or discharged. They caused Veikkaus losses of at least 14 million Finnish marks (2,3 million euros).^[1][2]

Aftermath

All teams involved were relegated two levels down in the league system and Veikkaus decided to ban all betting on pesäpallo matches for six years. The agency started taking bets again in 2005. Betting on a draw was not allowed until 2009.^[3] The Finnish pesäpallo association lost a part of its state financing.

The common interest on pesäpallo, which is considered to be the national game of Finland, was decreasing for many years. However, in last few years the game has managed to increase its popularity among Finnish sports spectators.

Fixed matches

11 August 1998

• SMJ, Seinäjoki – KaMa, Kankaanpää 1-2 (5-2,5-6,0-3)
• Lippo, Oulu – Kiri, Jyväskylä 2-1 (4-2,4-5,0-0,3-1)

13 August 1998

• Tiikerit, Helsinki – HP, Hamina 2-1 (8-3,2-3,6-0)
• SiiPe, Siilinjärvi – Juvan Pallo, Juva 0-2 (1-4,4-6)
• KaMa, Kankaanpää – Lippo, Oulu 2-1 (0-6,4-0,2-1)

References