Finnish pesäpallo match-fixing scandal was a

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

scandal in Finland that involved a large number of players, managers and other team officials of

Superpesis The Superpesis is the highest level of the Finnish pesäpallo league system. Contested by 13 clubs in men's league and 12 clubs in women's league, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Ykköspesis. Seasons usually run from ...

, the top professional league of the Finnish sport of

pesäpallo Pesäpallo (; ; , colloquially known in Finnish as pesis and also referred to as Finnish baseball) is a fast-moving bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other ...

, a game similar to

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

The scam

On the 11th and 13 August 1998, players and managers of eight teams fixed five different matches. Sports gambling is legal in Finland, and all games were on the betting list of the Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus. The matches were in the last two rounds on the Superpesis regular season and were meaningless for the teams. Four out of five matches ended in a draw after two periods, paying high

odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outcome. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. For example for an event that is 40% probable, one could say that the odds are or When gambling, o ...

. The scam was unveiled a year later. Finnish police interrogated 460 persons involving the fixing. Most of them were never charged 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 thirty people were sentenced to fines or discharged. Veikkaus suffered losses of at least 14 million mk ( €2,3 million).

Aftermath

All teams involved were relegated two levels down in the league system and Veikkaus imposed a ban on 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. Superpesis lost a part of its state financing. Public interest on pesäpallo, which is considered to be the national game of Finland, fell for many years before recovering. Attendance did not reach pre-scandal levels until 2009.

Fixed matches

11 August 1998 *SMJ,

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...

– KaMa,

Kankaanpää Kankaanpää () is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Kankaanpää was founded in 1865, became a township in 1967 and finally a town in 1972. It is located in the crossroads of Häm ...

1-2 (5-2,5-6,0-3) *Lippo,

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

– Kiri,

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

2-1 (4-2,4-5,0-0,3-1) 13 August 1998 *Tiikerit,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

– HP,

Hamina Hamina (; , , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, region, and formerly ...

2-1 (8-3,2-3,6-0) *SiiPe, Siilinjärvi – Juvan Pallo,

Juva Juva (, also ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia regions of Finland, region some North-East of Helsinki. It was founded on 19 January 1442, and is the oldest parish/municipality in Fi ...

0-2 (1-4,4-6) *KaMa,

– Lippo,

2-1 (0-6,4-0,2-1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnish pesapallo match-fixing scandal Match fixing scandal Finnish pesapallo scandal Crime in Finland Scandals in Finland 1998 crimes in Finland 1998 in Finnish sport