Spot-fixing

Spot-fixing is an illegal activity in a sport in which a specific aspect of a game, unrelated to the final result but upon which a betting market exists, is fixed in an attempt to ensure a certain result in a proposition bet. Examples include minor events such as timing a no-ball or wide delivery in cricket or timing the first throw-in or corner kick in association football.

Spot-fixing attempts to defraud bookmakers by a player taking a pre-arranged action to fix the result of that specific event. It differs from match fixing in which the final result of a match is fixed or point shaving in which players (or officials) attempt to limit the margin of victory of the favoured team. Unlike these other forms of corruption, spot-fixing can be perpetrated by a lone fraudulent player without any other players or officials needing to co-operate.

The growth of Internet gambling and increased variety of betting options (for example, spread betting, first-scorer betting) resulted in the emergence of spot-fixing, particularly through the first decade of the 2000s. The most effective means to detect spot fixing is to search for unusual proposition betting activity. Since it is the bookmakers who bear the greatest financial risk, they have dedicated considerable resources to detecting unusual betting patterns on proposition markets. In jurisdictions where sports betting is legally sanctioned and regulated, evidence of spot fixing is usually forwarded to law enforcement or to the affected leagues and other governing bodies which may take disciplinary action against the player(s) involved.