Analysis of framework on gambling and sports betting: a

threat to integrity and nature of sports.

TABLE OF CONTENT

HEADS OR TAILS? ............................................................................................................................. 2

SPORTS AND GAMBLING ................................................................................................................ 2
GAMBLING AND SPORTS BETTING- 21st CENTURY ................................................................ 3
STATISTICS-........................................................................................................................................ 5
ONLINE GAMBLING ......................................................................................................................... 5
INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS ......................................................................... 6
LEGAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................................... 7
MACOLIN CONVENTION ............................................................................................................ 7
OTHERS:- ............................................................................................................................................. 9
OLYMPICS ....................................................................................................................................... 9
WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION .......................................................... 10
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL ..................................................................................... 10
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS’ EFFORTS .................................................................... 11
SOGA – SOCCER GAMBLING ................................................................................................... 11
HAECHI .......................................................................................................................................... 11
EUROPOL ....................................................................................................................................... 11
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE – IBIS ............................................................. 12
FIFA- CODE OF CONDUCT ........................................................................................................ 12
SOME FAMOUS CASES................................................................................................................... 12
A THREAT TO INTEGRITY OF SPORTS .................................................................................... 14
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE? ........................................................................................................ 15
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES:- ................................................................................................................................. 18

1
HEADS OR TAILS?

Everyone of us have had at least once in a lifetime played betting games, mostly either in

childhood or in adolescence. Wagering and betting on a game makes it exciting, attractive and

many a times proves your loyalty and wisdom about the concerned sports . If you are a habitual

winner of these gamblings, you achieve a different air of praise among your allies especially if

you are in your youth . But what happens when these small gains of happiness and pride of

your school age, takes a gigantic form, lets’ say on international extents and in hugely popular

sports?

I am sure you must have heard about the cases and incidences of gambling in international

sports and have wondered upon the money gambled, once or the other times. As we proceed in

the article you will get to know more about these gambling and bettings on sports in modern

times.

SPORTS AND GAMBLING

In todays’ era , sports have a significant importance in promoting healthy and peaceful

international relations between states, not only this but increasing reach of popularity of

numerous sports and games at a global level, contributes towards development of integrity,

promotes solidarity on humanitarian grounds, often ignoring regional or racial differences.

Sports since ancient times have played a vital role in bringing people of different nationalities

together and helping people know more about different parts of human civilizations as we

know very well about the ancient Greek Olympic games, the origin of inter-state sports contests

that dates as back as 776 bc. Since then sports has been gaining wide admiration in all corners

of the world.

2
But big popularities invite bigger scopes of evils too, that intensifies to become a crime, and

hence the incidences of gambling and illegal betting in sports are at huge increase. Corruption

in sports in lure of illiavaicit gains, brings negative economic and societal consequences.

Addressing which is a need of the hour.

GAMBLING AND SPORTS BETTING- 21st CENTURY

Illegal gambling and betting means smaller investment on the probability of a certain result of

a game/sports totally based on guess, which if worked earns a bigger amount and if failed loses

the invested amount too. The global legal betting market on horse racing and sports in 2020

was estimated to be worth $40 billion. The largest global market was Asia, where bets worth

$19.6 billion were made, followed by Europe with $15.2 billion.

Gambling is nothing new, we find its traces even in primitive times when the great epic of

Mahabharata was written. It is regardless of times and geography. But changing times have

brought its different forms into light, making it broader and worse than ever! the amount

laundered globally in one year is estimated to be between $800 billion and $2 trillion, equal to

between two and five per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP)!

If bettors have distinguished knowledge regarding athletes and teams, which many sports fans

believe they have, Sports gambling can be consistently profitable to them. The proliferation of

media coverage of sports and the availiblity of variety of information services, provide

gamblers a sense of control and confidence that encourages them to wager. They keep betting

even when they lose, blaming losses on bad luck or bad performances by players, coaches, or

referees.

3
 Now the incidences of gambling are responsive to the popularity of the sports, Means popular

the game, larger the possibilities of incidences of gambling and that too at greater strength. In

2020, the most followed sports were football (soccer), basketball, volleyball, tennis,

motorsports, cycling, extreme sports, mixed martial arts, badminton, baseball, golf, ice hockey,

rugby and cricket.

After being Regardless of territorial boundaries, Betting is not restricted to limited games and

types either but it provides wide range of bet types for almost all sorts of games involving team

sports as cricket, basketball, football, and individual games such as pool, boxing, wrestling,

involving animals such as horse race and numerous others.

Various types of it includes

1 Odds betting Boxing and  A casino or bookmaker evaluates the contestants in a

Baseball competition and assesses the probability of victory: 2 to 1, 5 to

1, 1 to 4, and so on.

2 Pari –mutuel Horse Racing  Introduced in 1865 following the invention of the “totalizator”

 a calculating machine records the amount bet on each

competitor prior to the start of the contest.

3 Point Spread Football, Rugby,  Bookmakers determine the number of points that will serve as

Soccer a spread for a particular contest.

 A bet on the favored team requires that the bettor yield or give

the point spread.

 A bet on the underdog team grants the bettor the point spread

4 Pools Cricket, Ice  Pools range from predictions of the outcome of tournaments or

Hockey the week’s roster of games to lotteries consisting of numbers

that win if they match a final or partial score.

4
5 Fantasy league Season games  bettors’ selecting actual athletes for a "fantasy team" before a

contest (or season) begins.

STATISTICS-

 Worldwide Sports Betting and Lottery market size – 194.63 bn USD

 Number Of Businesses In The Sports Betting Market—25,240

 Highest Valued Gambling Company— bet365

 Illegal Betting In India –150 bn USD (200m USD every ODI)

ONLINE GAMBLING

Online gambling market is estimated to be as big as 61.5 bn USD in 2021. Since the beginning

of 21st century and globalization of sports viewing, internet has been an important factor which

gave an impetus to the incidences of gambling .

Manipulation of competition through underground forums and various social media

platforms, peer to peer private communications on invite only group discussions and real

time betting on online platforms have made the tasks of gamblers easier than ever.

Cryptocurrency is also emerging as widely used currency to facilitate the untraceable , easy ,

quick and smooth international transactions to serve the purposes of illegal gambling to cross

border extent.

Now when we know the increasing threats of gambling related corruptions in sports , naturally

there emerges a need to control these illicit activities . Lets know what are the measures taken

to regulate such activities.

5
INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Its not really easy to formulate a UNIFORM LAW or a governing body which could regulate

these gambling and illegal sports betting practices on an international level. Its not possible

either, within diverse countries to have uniform law throughout the country due to differences

in cultural, economic, moral, ethical and social perspectives in different regions . This had been

the reason why countries such as USA, India and European Union have different gambling

laws varying from state to state.

The second big issue here is the VAGUENESS OF DEFINITION OF GAMBLING, it is

broad and inclusive of various conditions such as considerations, price and result at risk . Many

a times loopholes of the differences in the interpretation makes it easy for the gamblers to

escape the clutches of law.

Another impediment to the uniform application of laws in gambling are related to

JURISDICTION. Since theres’ a confusion of jurisdiction of courts, there arises havoc for the

implementations of laws.

Till 20th century the laws and the code of conducts of international associations were not really

strict , but this has not been the case in the on going era . The organizations aiming at regulating

these conducts are much more operational these days and law enforcement organizations has

become more vigilant and responsive to such cases.

6
LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Some countries have legalized one or the other types of regulated gambling .The countries,

India, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Ireland, Finland, Thailand, Canada, New Zealand

have therefore become major markets of gambling. However the laws differ from state to state

within the countries themselves depending upon the type of gambling practiced and the culture

of the region.

Countries such as United Arab Emirates and Brunei have banned the practiclinie in whatever

form because it goes against the ethics of the religion practiced mostly in their countries.

Countries like Japan had initially banned all sorts of gambling but recent developments shows

the leniency in strict laws and hence many casinos are now being opened there too.

MACOLIN CONVENTION

The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions also known as

Macolin Convention provide certain rules regarding manipulation of competition which

revolves around formulation of criminal laws, sports betting regulations, sports regulations,

awareness raising, prevention of conflict of interest, information sharing, creation of national

cooperation frameworks, etc. It is the only convention which is legally binding, international

treaty set up by the Council of Europe in 2014. It Establishes a legal framework for the

prevention, detection, and sanctioning of the manipulation of sports competitions, and to

promote the cooperation of all relevant entities in this effort. Article 3.5(a) defines illegal

betting as “any sports betting activity whose type or operator is not allowed under the

7
applicable law of the jurisdiction where the consumer is located” hence it seeks to protect the

interests of consumers. Similarly it clearly marks the distinction between legal and illegal

betting by defining legal betting too, as on the other hand, Legal betting operators can offer

gambling services to consumers, if they have been granted an authorization (license,

concession, exclusive rights) within the jurisdiction of the purchaser of those services

 Some of the Provisions provided under the convention related to gambling and

illegal sports betting are –

 Article 7.1(c) requires the stakeholders to report immediately any suspicious activity

which may be perceived as the infringement of rules against the manipulation of sports

competitions, including illegal betting on sports. This is to ensure the undelayed

reporting of the offence so that action could be taken immediately.

 Article 7.2 calls for the Enhanced and Effective monitorinundeg of the competition and

its clause (e) urges to the appointment of relevant officials for a sports competition, in

particular judges and referees, at the latest possible stage.

 Article 9 specifically states-- Measures regarding the betting regulatory authority or

other responsible authority or authorities, under which it encourages to designate an

authority to supervise, regulate and combat the issues related with betting, formulate

duly binding rules and regulations, and implement them howsoever necessary. Not only

this but it will also take into consideration application of other measures to help the

cause against manipulation of competition.

 Article 10 of the Macolin Convention says that “Each Party shall adopt such legislative

or other measures as may be necessary to prevent conflicts of interest and misuse of

inside information by natural or legal persons involved in providing sports betting

products”. It goes further to define the key role of sports betting operators, public

authorities, and other stakeholders.

8
  Article 11 clause 1 says, that parties shall endeaisevour to adopt appropriate means and

measures to combat manipulation of competition which may include restriction of

access to illegal remote sports betting and it advertisement.

 Article 13 enumerates to establish a national platform which shall serve as an

information hub, collecting and disseminating informations ,shall receive, centralize

and analyze information on irregular and suspicious bets.

Chapter IV of it advices to substantiate criminal laws and cooperation, with regard to

enforcement. Article 15 asks the parties to ensure that its domestic laws enable to

criminally sanction manipulation of sports competitions when it involves either coercive,

corrupt or fraudulent . Similarly Article 16 asks the parties criminalize duly , the cases of

extortion and fraud and curroption.

However, all the legislations must conform to , and not infringe with , the domestic laws

of the respective territory.

OTHERS:-

OLYMPICS

In 2017, following the International Forum For Sports Integrity IFSI recommendations, IOC

had formulated Olympic Movement Code On The Prevention Of Manipulation Of

Competition which is an integral part of IOC Code of Ethics and IOC Charter . It aims to

provide sports organizationss with harmonized regulations to protect competitions from

manipulation. All sports organizationss, including National Olympic Committees,

International Sports Federations and their respective members at the continental, regional and

national levels, as well as IOC-recognized organizationss bound by the Olympic Charter, must

implement this Code by referencing it or by implementing regulations in line with this Code.

9
Since 2006, the IOC Code of Ethics has prohibited all accredited persons at the Olympic

Games from betting on Olympic events.

The Olympic Charter also states that all disputes that arise in connection with the Olympic

Games shall be submitted exclusively to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION

WBSC is a governing body of baseball and softball games at the international level , which

bans the participants from any kind of betting whatsoever in the events governed and led by it.

Even in the case of multisport events involving baseball and softball, WBSC has the regulatory

authority over the bettings in the concerned sports.

INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL

The ICC imposes a blanket ban on “corrupt conducts” by any participant of it. It has the

jurisdiction in Anti – corruption matters same as that of National Federations, having rules of

conduct substantially identical to that of ICC Code.

In general, the ICC has either exclusive or priority jurisdiction over international matches,

while national federations have responsibility for actions relating only to domestic matches.

It bans actual fixing of the match, accepting or agreeing to take bribe to fix a match, actual

betting or soliciting a bet on the match , spot fixing, failing to report about the violation of code

after becoming aware of it, etc.

10
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS’ EFFORTS-

SOGA – SOCCER GAMBLING

Operation SOGA meaning Soccer Gambling is an INTERPOL led operation to check gambling

activities across different countries worldwide. The operation SOGA till the year 2016 dealt

with more than 4000 raids on illegal gambling networks, worth 649 million USD , operating

through China, France , Greece, Italy, Malasia,Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore. In the operation

SOGA VII during the FIFA 2018, as many as 14900 raids were conducted throughout various

countries across Asia which estimated to have handled at least 1.6 billion USD bets.

HAECHI

Operation HAECHI-I saw more than 500 arrests and nearly 900 solved cases through intensive

cooperation between nine countries in Asia. Over six months of coordinated intelligence

collection and joint operations, police were able to intercept a total of USD 83 million in illicit

funds transferred from victims to the perpetrators of cyber-enabled financial crime.

Operation HAECHI-I specifically directed to five types of online financial crime: investment

fraud, romance scams, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, online

sextortion and voice phishing.

EUROPOL

Since 2011, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL) has

been assisting law enforcement authorities in the European Union with the analysis of data

from investigations into corruption in sports. Europol has established the Analysis Project

Sports Corruption to coordinate action against corruption in sport. Europol has stated that

“online betting is increasingly used by organised crime groups to manipulate sports

11
competitions and criminals usually target lower-level competitions across different sports, with

football and tennis the most targeted sports by criminal networks.”

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE – IBIS

In 2011, IOC established the Working Group on Irregular and Illegal Betting in Sport to

strengthen cooperation on corruption between sports organizations, Governments and betting

agencies, with a focus on action in the areas of education, monitoring and legislation and

regulations. The work of the Group led to the foundation of the IOC Integrity Betting

Intelligence Systems (IBIS) in 2014. Through IBIS, regulators and operators provide alerts and

relevant information on potential manipulation connected to sports betting on sports events.

FIFA- CODE OF CONDUCT

All officials, referees and players as well as match agents and intermediaries are subject to

Article 26 of the FIFA Code of Ethics 2020 Edition which includes prohibition of all sorts of

gambling, betting and lotteries in football and any involvement whatsoever of any participant

of the FIFA matches.

SOME FAMOUS CASES

Black Sox Scandal- This sports scandal is infamous as the biggest sports scandals of all times

where, the Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series, in 1919.

professional gambler Joseph Sullivan paid eight members of the White Sox, 1000 dollars each,

to fix the world series and throw it. All eight players were banned from playing professional

12
baseball for the rest of their lives. Pete Rose who had been the all-time MLB leader in hits, was

banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on games. The rule against gambling in baseball is

known as "Rule 21," which is publicly posted on dugout walls and states: "Any player, umpire,

or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever on any baseball game

in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently

ineligible.”

Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal – It is known as first major scandal in

professional football in United States of America, which was exposed in 1906, wherein an Ohio

Newspaper allegated the coaches of two clubs – Canton Bulldogs and Massilon Tigers for

having fixed the two consecutive matches amongst themselves. However, it remains unknown

if there was ever a match-fixing agreement, the scandal tarnished the Bulldogs name and

reportedly ruined professional football in Ohio until the mid-1910s.

Cronje Affair -- An India-South Africa Cricket match fixing scandal that went public in 2000

began in 1996 when the-then captain of the South African national cricket team, Hansie Cronje

was convinced by Mukesh "John" Gupta, an Indian bookmaker, to throw a match during a Test

in Kanpur, India. The scheme was discovered when Delhi police recorded illegal dealings

between Indian bookmaker Sanjay Chawla and Cronje. According to the Telegraph in 2010,

Cronje was paid off a total of £65,000 from Gupta.

Fixing in Tennis -- In 2011, Daniel Koellere, became the first tennis player to be banned for

life for attempting to fix matches. He was once the world no. 55th tennis player hailed from

Austria.

13
A THREAT TO INTEGRITY OF SPORTS

The above mentioned scandals have proven from time to time that how the gambling and

betting related corruptions can distort the very purposes of international sports and can break

the integrity of it into pieces.

The great Nelson Mandela had once said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the

power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to

youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only

despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in

the face of all types of discrimination”.

As uttered by Bjørn Berge “Sports is inclusive , team-spirited and brings physical and has

psychological benefits for those who take part. My view is that for sports to achieve these

outcomes – from the amateur to the professional levels – they should conform to the highest

standards. To look at sports through the prism of human rights, democracy and the rule of law

is to apply values in the pursuit of ethical standards.”

But corruption in sports through gambling and illegal betting deteriorates the essential nature

of sports and thus becomes a huge problem for the integrity of sports.

The use of online gambling for money laundering and the financing of terrorism has long been

recognized. When illegal betting profits are funneled into “official” enterprises – whether a

shell company, legitimate sports team, through the transfer of athletes, or by placing many

legitimate, smaller bets, money laundering creates an organic link between legal and illicit

economies, where the ultimate aim is to distance the dirty money from its illegitimate source

14
Elimination of such corrupt practices is essential not only to save the integrity but also for a

good governance of sports.

Theres’ an increased consciousness among International organizations, Governments and

sports bodies, of the scale of the problem of illegal betting and the money-laundering that it

facilitates, and are duly active in taking actions to address the issue and minimize the risks

related to the activity. Major sports betting operators, betting industry associations and

monitoring companies are increasingly cooperating in activity aimed at minimizing the risks

associated with illegal betting by sharing betting data and suspicious betting alerts with sports

organizations.

Yet the need of the hour is to impose stricter regulations and laws and courts to entertain the

issues of illegal gambling and sports betting.

WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?

Several Measures Recommended By United Nations Office On Drug And Crime in one of its

report about illegal betting in international sports—

Governments can strengthen detection and reporting of illegal betting on sport and related

money-laundering by:

 » ESTABLISHING NATIONAL PLATFORMS and contact points for international

cooperation with sports governing bodies and other key stakeholders, including law

enforcement agencies and licensed betting operators, to combat illegal betting on sports.

 » ENSURING NATIONAL LEGISLATION includes LAWS that appropriately

criminalize illegal betting and related manipulation of sport competitions, including

15
 obliging betting operators that offer betting on sports events to report instances of

suspicious betting to regulators .

 » ENHANCING THE CAPACITIES of relevant authorities, through training and

allocation of adequate resources, in order to detect, investigate, prosecute and sanction

those involved in illegal betting on sports.

 » DEVELOPING REGULATIONS that require licensed betting operators to publish

an official list of shareholders, parent companies and subsidiaries, to make clear the

identity of their owners.

 » ENCOURAGING LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES responsible for acting on

illegal betting on sport to seek cooperation with operators of Internet payment systems

in order to identify transactions that are suspected to be related to illegal betting.

 » ENCOURAGING RELEVANT LAW ENFORCEMENT and criminal justice

authorities to consider illegal betting activities that involve laundering proceeds from

illegal and criminal activity as dealing with the proceeds of crime.

 » ENCOURAGING GOVERNMENTS, gambling regulators and sports governing

bodies to cooperate with Internet service providers in order to request these providers,

where appropriate, to identify, block and remove illegal betting websites from the

Internet and to report the situation to relevant LAW ENFORCEMENT and CRIMINAL

JUSTICE authorities.

16
CONCLUSION

Corruption in sports in form of gambling and illegal betting is as primitive as the sports itself.

Its an ancient practice which has broadened today and has emerged as a big threat towards the

integrity of sports. It’s a big market and the syndicate often funds terrorist and illegal activities

and much more harmful social conducts. Since diversity, jurisdictional issues and blur

definition of gambling, throughout the world, there does not exist any hard and fast structure

of laws regulating the gambling activities, yet there had been efforts through conventions , and

the international sports’ organizations and certain law enforcement associations to check the

growing threat of the illicit acts. This includes Macolin convention, IOC code of Ethics,

WBSC, FIFA code of Ethics, ICC code etc. Some cases of scandals have shaken the very

foundation of principles of ethics of international sports. United Nations had suggested several

measures to tackle the challenges posed by the illegal gambling and betting which emphasize

on formulation and implementation of laws which would supervise these activities.

17
REFERENCES:-

1. WLA_Illegal_Betting_Brochure_v2.pdf
2. CETS_215.docx
3. SPORTS_CORRUPTION_2021_S9.pdf
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_betting -
Positions_of_other_sports_leagues_and_governing_bodies
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Koellerer
6. https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/illegal-gambling-raids-arrests-across-asia-interpol-
operation/
7. https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2021/Illegal-gambling-Operation-SOGA-
VIII-leads-to-1-400-arrests -
:~:text=INTERPOL's%20Operation%20SOGA%20VIII%20(short,suspects%20across%20Asi
a%20and%20Europe.
8. https://blog.ipleaders.in/gambling-laws-across-world/
9. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40318-021-00181-3 - Sec46
10. https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/International_Sports_Law.html
11. https://olympics.com/ioc/integrity/prevention-competition-manipulation
12. https://llbmania.com/2020/05/21/sports-betting-an-analysis-with-reference-to-judicial-aspects/
13. https://www.britannica.com/sports/sports/Gambling-and-sports - ref892334
14. https://igamingbusiness.com/social-responsibility/modern-day-threats-to-sporting-integrity/

18