Artwork for podcast Echo of the Whistle
Who Turned Out the Lights?
Episode 11 • 24th August 2026 • Echo of the Whistle • Harry Swartout
00:00:00 00:30:34

Share Episode

Shownotes

In the late 90s, a string of power failures at Premier League games... didn't cause a stir at all. The grounds were ancient, and leaks, cracks and even darkness were part of the charm. That was until police received a tip that something nefarious was going on. Their investigation revealed the outages to be part of an elaborate match fixing scam by Far East syndicates that still reverberates in today's instant gambling world.

CHAPTERS

Lights Out (:00)

Premier League Goes Global (3:17)

Old Grounds (7:33)

The Sting (9:25)

Tipped Off (11:15)

The Syndicate's Match Fixing Plot (12:33)

Dodged Consequences (17:15)

The Rise of the Instant Micro Bet (21:25)

Modern Match Fixing (22:55)

1999 or the Future? (26:40)

SOURCES

Floodlights scam to beat bookies (Vivek Chaudhary and Linus Gregoriadis The Guardian 08/20/1999)

Soccer floodlight plot gang jailed (The Guardian 08/25/1999)

The floodlights went out and an Asian betting syndicate raked in a fortune (Mark Hughes St. Louis Post-Dispatch 08/30/2010)

UK Man guilty of floodlight plot (BBC News 08/20/1999)

Special Thanks to Peter Kenny Jones, Andy Sellers, and Jon Cohen

STAY CONNECTED

Patreon: Echo of the Whistle

Twitter: @echothewhistle

Instagram: @echoofthewhistle

Threads: @echoofthewhistle

Bluesky: @echothewhistlepod.bsky.social

TikTok: @echo_of_the_whistle

YouTube: @EchooftheWhistle

Website: echoofthewhistle.com

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube