A-League players sidestep conviction in betting scam
Tom Wark |
Taking $10,000 to deliberately get yellow cards in an A-League betting scam is not enough for a criminal conviction, a court has found.
Ex-Macarthur Bulls duo Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis will serve a two-year conditional release order, similar to a good behaviour bond, after they were sentenced in Sydney on Wednesday.
They will have to repay the money they received for getting the yellow cards in December 2023 as a fine.
The pair were “right at the bottom of the scheme” allegedly orchestrated by their then-captain Ulises Davila, magistrate Michael Blair said at the Central Local Court.
Baccus, 33, and Lewis, 27, pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of an event, with Mr Blair finding both players were genuinely remorseful for their actions.
The charges related to a Macarthur game against Sydney FC on December 9, 2023 when bets were placed on Macarthur to receive at least four yellow cards.
Davila was booked for delaying play by kicking the ball away, Lewis was cautioned for pushing an opponent in the chest and Baccus earned his yellow for a poor tackle on a Sydney player.
Winning payouts for the bets placed in South America through gambling site Betplay and allegedly orchestrated by Davila totalled more than $167,000.
The agreed facts state Davila recruited Lewis because of his history of gambling addiction and so the former New Zealand international could receive “a little bit of extra coin”.
Mr Blair found there was no evidence Lewis or Baccus had any knowledge of the wagers being placed on their actions or even how much they would be paid.
The magistrate said the two were reckless to deliberately get the yellow cards but he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt they knew they were corrupting a betting outcome.
In submissions, lawyers for the two stressed the uneven relationship between them and Davila, saying the captain was “not only the captain of the team, but the captain of the scheme”.
All three players were suspended by Macarthur FC after their arrests and Davila and Baccus have since been released from their contracts, with Baccus working as a truck driver.
The prosecution argued Baccus should be given a harsher sentence because he tried to hide his payment from Davila as a car purchase but Mr Blair disagreed, saying both men committed low-level offences.
Davila, accused of acting as a conduit between the Macarthur players and a Colombian criminal known as “J Col”, has not yet entered pleas to nine charges against him.
He will face court on those charges on Thursday.
Before his arrest, Davila was one of the genuine stars of the A-League Men, winning the Johnny Warren Medal for best player in the league in 2020-21.
After Clayton and Lewis entered guilty pleas, Macarthur issued a strongly worded statement that said “serious deficiencies” around integrity processes in Australian football needed to be addressed.
“The systems in place are inadequate to protect clubs from risk and lack the responsiveness required to manage issues of this magnitude,” the statement read.
AAP
