Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the - SportAccord

Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the integrity of sport
main sponsor and the TV broadcaster refused to renew their contracts with the league, and the first
matches took place in virtual obscurity. A similar thing occurred in the Balkans.
The risk of modern sport falling into decay in the face of repeated scandals is genuine and must not be
underestimated.
The increasingly frequent presence of transnational criminal organisations in instances of corruption in
sport is a major concern. Over the past two decades, these transnational criminal organisations have
moved from regional, strongly family-oriented establishments to international organisations,
diversified in their legal and illegal activities, and modes of operating. They have taken advantage of
changes in regulations, flaws in legal and judicial systems, the opening-up of borders and the growth
of free trade, all direct consequences of globalisation. They have adapted without any great difficulty
to changes in political regimes, to dictatorships and democracies, without ever going under - quite the
contrary, in fact, which is both unusual and particularly concerning, specifically from a strategic point
of view.
The increase in sports betting throughout the world represents a windfall for criminal organisations, as
explained by Chris Eaton, Security Director of FIFA: “There are criminal gangs who are acting like
enterprises and transforming betting into a worldwide problem.” 1 .
Sports betting also represents a money-laundering opportunity for criminal organisations. Noel Pons, a
specialist in criminal organisations and fraud says: “The concentration of a number of moneylaundering
and fraud resources in a single uncontrollable geographic area allows criminals to
launder money, but more particularly to optimise the profitability of criminal corruption. It is due to
this accumulation of interests that the criminal fraternity has become widely involved with betting on
the web, which affords them a certain impunity due to betting sites being located offshore, lack control
by the normal authorities (particularly in relation to money-laundering) and the opportunity to
develop lobbying activities to liberalise the sector, which will be highly profitable for them.” 2 . Modern
sport is not specifically equipped to face up to these powerful and determined networks, which are
interested in the varying opportunities for profit provided by the sports betting markets.
Parallels are frequently drawn between corruption in sport and the doping scandals that also
undermine sport, particularly cycling. Even though they both threaten the integrity of competitions,
there are nevertheless fundamental differences between doping and betting-related corruption in sport.
To begin with, doping concerns one or more athletes who are cheating to win. Corruption linked to
sports betting involves teams or players who often cheat to lose. As will be seen below, this difference
is fundamental to understanding the issues involved and the fight against fraud.
Secondly, sports betting represents a worldwide market that is disproportional to the market for doping
products, and has grown considerably in recent years, to the point of constituting what is now a
significant and substantial economic activity. It is estimated that by the end of 2011, sports betting as a
whole was generating bets of close to 200 billion per year.
1 Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung, 21 August 2011.
2 Pons Noel, "Economie Criminelle:Vieilles Ficelles et Ruses Insolites", Pouvoirs, 2010/1 No. 132, p. 29-40.
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