Queensland tennis player charged with match-fixing at ATP Challenger tournament

Brisbane-based tennis professional Isaac Frost has been charged with facilitating match-fixing at an ATP Challenger tournament in Victoria last year.

28-year-old Frost appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday (14th June) following a joint Queensland Police, Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) and Victoria Police investigation.

The prosecution alleges "a number of suspicious bets" were made on a tennis match being played at the Challenger Tournament in Traralgon, Victoria last year.

Police suspect a number of people received information the match would allegedly be fixed and bets were placed through various betting agencies.

This year the CCC has been conducting coercive hearings in relation to the investigation.

Queensland police said an investigation that began last year and involved the Victoria Police sporting integrity intelligence unit “led detectives to suspect that a number of people received information that the match would allegedly be fixed and subsequently placed bets through various betting agencies.”

Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Jon Wacker said match-fixing was a growing offence in Australia, stating "match-fixing pulls at the very fabric of our sporting culture and identity," he said.

Detective Superintendent Wacker said the investigation was ongoing and urged anyone with information to contact police.

Police advised that the Crime and Corruption Commission has held coercive hearings in relation to the investigation in which people may be charged with contempt if they refuse to answer questions.

Match fixing in Queensland has carried a maximum punishment of 10 years jail since 2014, when the Queensland Government brought penalties into line with other Australian jurisdictions.

Last month a Victorian Magistrates Court handed former junior tennis champion Oliver Anderson a two-year good behaviour bond and a $500 fine after he pled guilty to a tennis match-fixing charge.

The sentence was criticised for being too lenient.

Frost, whose highest world ranking was 651, has also been charged with nine counts of supplying dangerous drugs and one of possession.

He is due to appear again at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 26th June.

24th May 2017 - RISING TENNIS STAR ANDERSON SPARED JAIL IN MATCH-FIXING CASE 

11th December 2016 - TENNIS AUSTRALIA STRENGTHENS INTEGRITY MEASURES AHEAD OF AUSTRALIAN OPEN 

5th August 2016 - NSW POLICE INVESTIGATE FURTHER NRL MATCH-FIXING ALLEGATIONS

5th May 2016 - TENNIS AUSTRALIA APPOINTS ANN WEST AS INTEGRITY HEAD

28th January 2016 - TENNIS AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE PROBE INTO MATCH-FIXING

25th January 2016 - MATCH FIXING SUSPICIONS RAISED AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN AFTER SITE STOPS BETS ON MATCH

18th January 2016 - BBC REPORT THAT TENNIS AUTHORITIES IGNORED EVIDENCE OF MATCH-FIXING BY KEY PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS 

9th October 2009 - AUSTRALIA A TARGET FOR MATCH-FIXING 

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