Khoza warns betting syndicates
JOBURG - Soccer betting companies that have mushroomed in Hillbrow have been warned to either shutdown or face the wrath of the Premier Soccer League.
The warning was sounded by chairperson of the league Dr Irvin Khoza, when he announced the league had won a court ruling against national lottery operator Gidani over the ownership of copyright for betting on its fixtures. “This is an important milestone since the re-positioning of the league into a fully professional league in 1996,” said Khoza.
“In the eighteen years the PSL has managed to secure the copyright of its match content, making it the only league with these rights in the world. Only Fifa has copyright of its match content.”
He warned that the league would do everything in its power to enforce the ruling and make sure that those who benefited from the betting system complied with the ruling. “We know them all in Hillbrow. Let me warn them that we are going to come there [in Hillbrow] with a smoking gun,” Khoza warned.
“We want to control the activities of the betting companies in order to guard against corruption and corrupt betting companies. We want to ensure they play fair and do not manipulate the outcomes of our soccer fixtures,” he said.
Khoza said the league was not aware of how much money the betting syndicates were making on its fixtures as the syndicates have steadfastly refused to divulge that information.
“We know it runs into million of rands. We also want to benefit from the betting as the owners of the league and clubs,” he added.
