News Navigator: Is rigging matches illegal?
Kiyoseumi, left, and sumo elder Takenawa (former wrestler Kasuganishiki), make their way to a Japan Sumo Association board meeting at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan over allegations of bout-rigging on Feb. 2. (Mainichi )
The sumo world has recently been rocked by allegations of match fixing. The Mainichi answers common questions readers may have about match rigging, and whether it is considered a criminal offense.
Question: So what is "yaocho" (bout rigging)? It's been all over the news lately with regards to sumo.
Answer: "Yaocho" is the practice of making prior arrangements with an opponent to intentionally lose a match. The expression is said to have originated with a Meiji period greengrocer (yaoya) named Chobei, who intentionally lost in a game of go out of business concerns he believed would worsen if he didn't.
Q: For people who are rooting for athletes on the field or in the ring, rigging is unacceptable. Why doesn't the Metropolitan Police Department investigate and build a case against those involved?
A: There's no law that forbids match rigging. The rigging of sumo bouts does not constitute a crime unless other criminal acts such as gambling and extortion are a part of the picture. Investigators haven't found a link between the recently alleged cases of bout rigging and the scandal over baseball betting that emerged last year.
A full house on opening day of last year's Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka on March 14, 2010 is pictured in this file photo. (Mainichi )
Q: How did the bout fixing come to light?
Q: How did the bout fixing come to light?
A: Investigators had confiscated the cell phones of sumo wrestlers implicated in the baseball gambling scandal. They recovered the text messages that had been deleted from the phones to find exchanges that suggested wrestlers' involvement in bout rigging.
Because the implications of such a revelation are serious, the MPD passed the information on to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) via the National Police Agency.
Because the implications of such a revelation are serious, the MPD passed the information on to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) via the National Police Agency.
Q: Were there any cases of bout rigging prior to the recent allegations?
A: In 2000, a former sumo wrestler revealed at a press conference that he had been involved in bout rigging as an active wrestler, and various weekly magazines have reported on the existence of the practice.
The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) had categorically denied all such accusations and even won a related lawsuit. Match fixing is something that cannot be verified unless both the concerned parties admit to it. But now, solid evidence in the form of text messages has emerged.
The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) had categorically denied all such accusations and even won a related lawsuit. Match fixing is something that cannot be verified unless both the concerned parties admit to it. But now, solid evidence in the form of text messages has emerged.
Q: What about match rigging in other sports?
A: Horse racing, bicycle racing, motorboat racing and J. League soccer all have their own rules that stipulate that involvement in fixing contests is subject to punishment. Because many of these sports involve legal gambling, rules concerning game rigging are very strict.
Q: What's the situation with match fixing overseas?
A: In Europe, match fixing scandals have emerged time and time gain in popular sports such as soccer. In 2009, German investigators revealed that some 200 games had allegedly been fixed. In Taiwan last year, Shin Nakagomi, a former Hanshin Tigers pitcher and a former manager of the Taiwanese professional baseball team Brother Elephants, was tried in court and found guilty of accepting money for his part in a game-rigging scheme.
Q: Has the practice been a problem in Japan before?
A: The most famous case is probably the so-called Black Mist Scandal in professional baseball that came to light in 1969. Six players were permanently banned from professional baseball for losing intentionally to cooperate with members of crime syndicates who were betting on games, and for receiving money and gifts. Some of the players were fined for being an accessory to gambling.
Q: In the case of game rigging in sumo, too, there was a transfer of money, right?
A: One text message spoke of an expected "payment of 700,000." If indeed the transfer of cash took place, such money could be subject to tax as gifts or other types of income, which means that the recipients could have committed tax evasion. However, it's quite difficult to collect the evidence necessary to build a case that would lead to punishment.
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Meanwhile, some observers say that bout rigging itself constitutes fraud because the JSA collects money from spectators who come to see matches on the premise that they are being fought fair and square.
(Answers by Yutaka Hasegawa, City News Department)
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Meanwhile, some observers say that bout rigging itself constitutes fraud because the JSA collects money from spectators who come to see matches on the premise that they are being fought fair and square.
(Answers by Yutaka Hasegawa, City News Department)
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