John the bookmaker controversy
Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were approached by an Indian bookmaker. John asked Waugh to provide pitch and weather information in exchange for US$4,000. Waugh accepted the money and agreed to provide information, but refused to divulge more-strategic material, such as team tactics and player selection policies. The Australian Cricket Board initially covered up the matter, saying that it was sufficient to privately fine the players. When the issue was uncovered by the media in late 1998, the two players were widely condemned by the press and public, as was the ACB for their cover-up.
About John the bookmaker controversy in brief
Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were approached by an Indian bookmaker. John asked Waugh to provide pitch and weather information in exchange for US$4,000. Waugh accepted the money and agreed to provide information, but refused to divulge more-strategic material, such as team tactics and player selection policies. The Australian Cricket Board initially covered up the matter, saying that it was sufficient to privately fine the players. When the issue was uncovered by the media in late 1998, the two players were widely condemned by the press and public, as was the ACB for their cover-up. The controversy prompted Pakistan to ask the two Australian players to appear in front of their own judicial inquiry into corruption. Australia responded by granting the Pakistanis permission to hold hearings in Australia with full privileges. The players denied any suggestions they played with less determination in the matches in question, stating that they were among the leading players in those games. The arrangement with John remained in place until the end of the 1994–95 Australian summer. The two players did not tell their management or their teammates about the payment. Warne wrote in his autobiography that he was a wealthy man and that he had made the money by betting on Australian victories in the past. The pair were never charged with any crime. The case is one of the most publicised of a series of betting controversies in cricket in the 1990s, and was one of the most publicised of a series of betting controversies in cricket in the 1990s.
The ACB appointed Rob O’Regan QC to conduct an independent inquiry into the matter. O’ regan concluded that the fines were inadequate and wrote that a suspension for a significant time would have been a more appropriate penalty. Waugh later said that at the time, he did not see anything wrong with his actions, reasoning that the agreement was similar to a player speculating about their form and the playing conditions in a pre-match media interview. The trio chatted as Warne was playing roulette and lost US$5,000; he had a bad night and introduced himself to Warne as a person who bet on cricket matches. The next day he invited Warne to his hotel room and invited him to his big room, where he covered Warne’s losses with a gift, which covered his no strings attached. John told Warne that the money was a token of his appreciation for the way the Australian players had treated him in the recent past, and Warne accepted the offer at the insistence of John, who said that he would be offended if he was offended if Warne declined the offer. The three chatted until Warne lost this money at the casino, and the next day Warne invited John to his room and covered his losses, which he covered with a gift, which Warne said was a gift for his leg spinning abilities. The meeting occurred at the Oberoi Hotel in the capital Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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