Virgin media staff monitor telephone voting to place inside info bets

[RayUK]

Reported on the BBC - hope this isn't a repeat post I did search!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12999037

Virgin media staff used the info on the telephone bets being placed to work out who would win X factor before the results were announced, and placed bets accordingly. I modern version of the 'past posted' scam (see e.g. the film 'The Sting') I guess. Nice to see that they got spotted and are being done for it.

[Anthony]

Online books do a much better job rooting out this type of scam than the land base ones do. The Gambling Commission did a good job following up and taking action.

Thanks for posting the story.

[grem]

If someone knows the final result or has access to info about rigged sporting events then expect big spikes in betting activities. This was observed in the Bundesliga many years ago.

Now for xfactor I thought voting was done by the users and done live?

[ocreditor]

XFactor voting is done by the viewers and is done live, but I guess it's possible to monitor the volume of calls and texts coming in for each contestant as voting progresses (a different phone number is given out for each singer). What these guys did, if I'm not mistaken, was monitor the call volume coming in on each phone line and place bets accordingly.

[RayUK]

Yes I think the voting is live, but the numbers (results) aren't announced until the end. So if you could see the telephone volume for each contestant you could probably work out who would win before the results were announced.