Prakash Jiwa handed eight-year suspension for match-fixing

Prakash Jiwa has been handed an eight-year suspension and fined £17,000 after being found guilty of match-fixing in the Modus Super Series.

Jiwa, who competed in the 2022/23 PDC World Championship, was found guilty by the DRA Disciplinary Committee of fixing four matches, as well as betting on darts.

All four matches took place in 2023 against opponents Owen Bates, Adam Hunt, Peter Hudson and Willie Borland.

Jiwa was whitewashed 4-0 in the first two matches in February and lost the second two matches 4-1 in June.

At a hearing before the DRA Disciplinary Committee on January 21, 2025, Jiwa denied four charges of match fixing and one of obstructing the DRA enquiry, while accepting a charge of betting on darts.

The committee found him guilty of fixing the four matches and betting on darts, but not guilty of obstructing the enquiry.

The 54-year-old has been banned from playing in or being involved in any way in any DRA regulated events for a total of eight years and ordered to pay costs totalling £17,741.46.

Jiwa was one of three players to be suspended in November 2023 pending an investigation over suspicious betting patterns, alongside Jack Main and Andy Jenkins.

Jiwa had won through the Indian qualifier to compete in the 2023/24 PDC World Championship, but was withdrawn due to his suspension and replaced by Bhav Patel.

At the hearing, it was revealed experienced referee George Noble had noticed alarmingly high sums of money being traded on the Betfair exchange on matches involving Jiwa at the Modus Super Series.

This was flagged to the DRA and in turn the UK Gambling Commission took the decision to investigate the matter for potential criminal offences under the 2005 Gambling Act.

Jiwa and two unnamed bettors were interviewed under caution and bailed  in November 2023 pending further investigation.

The Gambling Commission investigation was dropped in June 2024, but a DRA investigation continued and established that 103 bets were placed by two bettors on Jiwa’s matches, staking more than £2,700 with a return of £8,300 and a profit of £5,800.

Jiwa’s performances were assessed by former professional Ritchie Gardner, who highlighted his consistently poor finishing and margin of misses as “extremely worrying”.

WhatsApp conversations involving the two bettors in question were also retrieved, with discussions taking place over “dodgy betting patterns” after Jiwa had been withdrawn from the Modus Super Series by George Noble.

Jiwa denied any involvement in match-fixing, blaming using new darts and drinking alcohol, and stated he was not aware of the betting patterns on his matches.

He also covered up deleting messages and phone calls to one of the bettors and admitted he had placed bets on Premier League Darts.

Jiwa’s suspension meant he lost a minimum of £7,500 in prize money as well as potential sponsor bonuses from qualifying for the World Championship and he continued to deny the match-fixing charges in a statement to the DRA.

However, the DRA’s position remained that he had agreed to lose the four matches in question by scorelines of either 4-0 or 4-1, with one of the two bettors, a work colleague of Jiwa, placing large stakes across multiple markets on these outcomes well in advance of the matches.

Jiwa was found to have made eight breaches of DRA rules related to the fixing of four matches and will remain suspended from DRA sanctioned events until November, 6, 2031.

There is no suggestion that the other players in the matches in question were involved in any way.