New Jersey Suspends Betting on Ukrainian Table Tennis over Match-Fixing Concerns

It's tough out there for sports gamblers in New Jersey with the suspensions of almost all major American team sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic limiting their betting options.

It reportedly got even tougher Thursday.

According to David Purdum of ESPN, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement suspended betting on Ukrainian table tennis events and any matches involving Liliia Zaitseva, Ivan Gaysin, Karen Dzhanibekyan, Eduard Panichev, Anastasia Efimova and Gleb Zotov until further notice because of concerns about possible match-fixing.

The Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association provided a notice to New Jersey regulators as well that said, in part, "While there is not yet any evidence that any match fixing occurred in New Jersey, due the nature of the alert, the Division is suspending approval for wagering on all table tennis events in the Ukraine, including but not limited to the Setka Cup, WIN Cup and TT Cup."

Purdum noted some United States sportsbooks have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars wagered daily on international table tennis, underscoring the limited options sports bettors have.

The Indiana Gaming Commission also suspended betting on table tennis events not sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation and European Table Tennis Union.