Six Dutch darts players approached for match-fixing, prosecution starts investigation

At least six Dutch darts players have been approached by match fixers in the past year to influence the results of matches. This comes after research from NOS, who have received these reports from dart players.

These players include Niels Zonneveld who received interest for sponsorship but it soon turned into asking if he'd lose a match on purpose for money.

"He started with wanting to sponsor me. That sounded like a separate story to me, so I asked for more information," says Zonneveld about his dealings with a match fixer to NOS.

Other players to have received similar messages who reported this to NOS include Maik Kuivenhoven, Wesley Harms and another top Dutch darts player who remained anonymous.

While they have been approached in the past, none of the players featured in the report accepted the offer.

This comes with the DRA receiving at least ten reports of match fixers or suspicious requests and 6/10 of these being from the Netherlands which can potentially be pinpointed down to online gambling not yet being legal in the country.

Chairman of the DRA, Nigel Mawer gave his response to NOS regarding the report.

"I think it's just the tip of the iceberg as there will be a large number of players who are unlikely to pass on the approaches."

"The only thing we can do about it is to suspend players. We can't do anything against the fixers."