Just one day ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that it will be collaborating with sports bookers to offer live, interactive match-fixing for anyone watching the games.
In addition to regular bets, sports bookers will be allowing viewers to offer players a cut of their potential winnings from betting against them, and players will be shown, in real-time, the sum total of offers from viewers who bet on their opposition.
“So, at this point, the batsman has a choice,” said ICC chief executive David Richardson. “Does he give the ball of good old whack for pride of country? Or does he stand there, gape-jawed like an idiot, and take the money?
“It adds a whole new psychological element to the sport, really.”
The ICC believes that the new option will help to crack down on traditional match-fixing, where “a wealthy few were able to determine the outcome of a sport that, really, should be for everyone”, or “at least everyone wealthy enough to enjoy it.”
“Understandably, there was a great deal of outrage at the very notion that a handful of men – or women, potentially women; women are bad, too. They don’t really like cricket, though – were approaching players and single-handedly driving the game,” said Richardson.
“But now, everyone can do it, so, you know, it’s fine.”
The ICC will, in future, consider letting viewers offer players things other than money, such as cars, timeshares, delicious chocolates, and bizarre sexual favours.