Over 80% of Sport Betting Worldwide is Illegal – Report

Organized crime was estimated to launder over USD 140B annually through sport betting, as 80% of global sport betting is illegal, according to a recent research.

The University Panth?on-Sorbonne and the International Center for Sport Security (ICSS) released Thursday the results of a two-year research program into sport corruption. It includes startling figures on the scale and scope of the sport-betting market, which is identified as the primary purpose for match-fixing. The report also provides detailed analysis of current efforts to combat corruption and presents guiding principles including practical steps that can be taken by sport, governments and betting.

According to the Sorbonne-ICSS Report – 'Protecting the Integrity of Sport Competition: The Last Bet for Modern Sport' – the manipulation of sport competition and betting threatens all countries and regions, with football and cricket the sports most under siege. Other sports affected include: tennis, basketball, badminton and motor racing.

The report shows that manipulation takes place in the context of a growing sports economy, which now accounts for 2% of the global GDP, with a transnational sports-betting market of estimated wagers worth between EUR 200 – 500B, more than 80% of which is illegal.

Asia and Europe represents 85% of the total legal and illegal market, as Europe makes up 49% of the legal market. The advent of the internet has led to an unprecedented expansion of sport betting offers, with online betting now representing 30% of the global market.

Chris Eaton, ICSS, Director of Sport Integrity said: "The rapid evolution of the global sports betting market has seen an increased risk of infiltration by organized crime and money laundering.

Alongside this, the transformation of the nature of betting, with more complex types of betting, such as live-betting, which according to this study is the most vulnerable, has made suspect activity even harder to detect."

The Report suggests that improving the governance of sports organizations, as well as developing effective sports betting regulations and equipping regulatory authorities with effective powers and means are essential. This could include the establishment of a blacklist of illegal operators agreed across borders, blocking payments and withholding licenses from betting operators on another country's blacklists.

The Report also recommends that sports betting operators cooperate with sports bodies through, for example, enhanced monitoring systems and the exchange of intelligence in cases of breaches of sports regulations or national legislation.

The full copy of the Sorbonne-ICSS Guiding Principles for Protecting the Integrity of Sport Competition can be found at the following link.

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