Macarthur FC player faces court over betting scandal

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Macarthur FC midfielder Kearyn Baccus has appeared in court over his alleged role in an illegal betting operation, that police allege manipulated yellow cards in the A-league, for the purposes of spot fixing.

Transcript

00:00 Detectives from the NSW Police Organised Crime Squad's gaming unit started investigating

00:07 these three players several weeks ago and charged them in mid-May over allegations of

00:14 controlling yellow cards for the purposes of spot fixing or controlling betting outcomes

00:20 of these matches.

00:22 So what detectives allege is that MacArthur FC captain Ulises Davila was recruited or

00:30 instructed by a man who's believed to be in South America to control the number of yellow

00:35 cards issued during two games in November and December last year.

00:41 And police allege that there were also failed attempts to control the number of yellow cards

00:46 in games this year in April and in early May.

00:50 Now police allege that Mr Davila also recruited fellow MacArthur FC players Kieran Backus

00:57 and Clayton Lewis to participate in this alleged operation, allegedly offering them $10,000

01:05 to participate.

01:06 That's when detectives began investigating and they arrested these three players.

01:12 Now Kieran Backus is the first to front court on these allegations.

01:17 He was charged with a conduct that corrupts a betting outcome of a game and participating

01:24 in a criminal group.

01:25 Well Mr Backus fronted Campbelltown local court here this morning.

01:29 It was a very brief matter.

01:31 He wasn't required to speak and didn't enter a plea and he left court.

01:36 His bail was continued and the matter will be stood over until next month to line up

01:41 with the expected court appearances of Mr Davila and Mr Lewis.

01:46 And until then Mr Backus is on bail and he won't be required to appear on that next appearance.

01:54 But as I said that next appearance is when Mr Davila and Mr Lewis will face court for

01:58 the first time on similar charges of conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of a game

02:04 and participating in a criminal group.

02:07 So very serious allegations that have arisen with these three players and Football Australia

02:15 has said that the impact on the game is significant when these kinds of allegations do arise.

02:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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