FIFA Forced to Investigate Rigging Allegations
Huge bets on Swiss win revives concerns.
The international governing body of world football, FIFA, approved the start of investigation into a match game between Switzerland and Moldova after suspicions surfaced the casino game may have been rigged by the Russian mafia.
The widely-read Russian sports newspaper Sovietsky Sport reported that authorities were early on alerted because of the unusually big number of bets placed on the Swiss winning by a 2-0 score which was the eventual result of the game between the two countries.
The total amount of bets placed reached some 1.50 million euros which forced Russia’s betting authorities to drastically change the odds from 1.8 : 1 to 1.2 : 1 in a span of just two hours for the impending Swiss 2-0 victory.