An investigation into Juan Carlos Saez, a tennis player from Chile, has resulted in the player’s banning from the sport for participating in match-fixing. According to the Tennis Integrity Unit, Saez did not cooperate with their investigation into his matches. The tennis pro also did not report a corrupt approach during a tournament.

Match-Fixing:

The Tennis Integrity Unit first began to investigate the player when they found evidence of unusual betting patterns within betting markets connected to his matches. The tennis player has only ranked as high as 230 in the tennis world, but now saw his ranking drop to 1,082 as the investigation took place. The player has not competed in an tournament event since November.

According to ABCnews…

The Tennis Integrity Unit has reported that most low-ranking players have been sanctioned this year due to charges related to betting or match-fixing. Included in the mix is an umpire and a coach.

Spain’s Match-Fixing Efforts:

The news of the tennis player from Chile being part of match-fixing is nothing new. Just last month, efforts were ramped up in Spain to stop match-fixing in sports as well as betting related fraud. The Ministry of the Presidency in Spain announced in July that a special commission was to be formed that would help the nation fight match-fixing, among other issues.

The new commission will be created from members of several gambling and sports related groups including the National Sports Council and the Direccion General de Ordenacion del Juego gambling regulator. The goal of the group is to create an early-warning system to stop fraud and match-fixing.