Miami United Caught In Gambling Allegations
Unfortunate turn of events for what was a great story
Well, so much for a good story.
Not 24 hours after Miami United defeated Club de Lyon 2-0 on Wednesday, news broke through sports book twitter that Miami United are alleged to have placed bets on the game at the Hard Rock Casino 15 minutes from where the game was played.
Kartik Krishnaiyer can now add to this that there was at least one attempt to place a six figure bet on the game that was rejected. Not long after, several smaller bets were allowed to pass. The pattern of these bets got to a point where the Seminole Tribe, the tribe that operates the Hard Rock Casino’s in Florida, had to notify the gaming commission. At present, those bets have not been paid out. Standard protocol when notifying the gaming commission would be to withhold payment on those bets.
One thing about sports gambling media in all forms is they want to do everything possible to keep things on the up and up. It’s also a close-knit community with relationships with the actual sports books. If a book wants an abnormality they spotted and had to report out in the open, all it would take is one call and in the nature of transparency those who get the information will get it out fast.
The problem Club de Lyon who begin their NISA season tomorrow, look to be having now is filing a complaint. Due to the Open Cup Committee being disbanded per an earlier Kartik Krishnaiyer Tweet there looks to be no place to file an official complaint as that committee handled any disputes and complaints filed.
To make matters worse, no one within USSF can give Club de Lyon an official protocol to actually file an official complaint. It also doesn’t help that Club de Lyon were not given an official referee report after the match, something that is irregular. Additionally, unlike every other US Open Cup match so far this year, official stats were not kept and uploaded to the usual media outlets like FotMob and ESPN FC.
Look, all we have is 1 tweet that has this information. While Kartik and I disagree on sports gambling, the reality is gambling is now part of the day to day. Heck, you can’t watch live sport much anymore without there being an official online sports book sponsor, seeing live odds in a broadcast and not to mention the time spent on sports networks with sports betting shows and segment content. What we do know is USSF has stayed silent. You would have figured by now we would have gotten a ‘we are aware of an allegation and are currently investigating’ token line.
That gives the impression to the populace that it sure does look like USSF is hoping no one is going to try and investigate them in the hopes of letting it fall by the wayside. USSF, this is your notice that we at Beyond the 90 are going to be investigating this to the best of our abilities.
We must remember these are still allegations at the moment and Kartik’s most recent tweet indicates he does not know who attempted to place bets, just that attempts to place them were made.
With round 3 starting on April 16th this needs to resolved no later than next Wednesday. Ignoring this is going to give many amateur players the seed they can bet on the match they’re about to play, and that throws the credibility of a competition you have started to rebuild right out the window.
"Threading the needle" can hopefully be accomplished here. This seems to be a Miami United or UPSL problem, that unfortunately tarnishes the US Open Cup at a time of vulnerability due to all the MLS shenanigans. MLS shenanigans that caused the Committee to be disbanded! Maybe the best outcome for US Soccer would be that Miami United just gets thrashed at the next round and then quietly exits the Cup. Whether to ban Miami United from future competitions would be a decision that can then be leisurely made, away from the bright lights that the US Open Cup deserves....
This is just a weird story. Someone was going to make a six figure bet on the game??? Someone tied to Miami United? I get that it's probably (clearly?) against some rules somewhere, but it's odd.