Reuters – Betting fraud, not match fixing, should be the main target for those fighting for cleaner sport & there must be a global crusade against in that South East Asia-dominated threat, according to a leading expert.
Commenting on an International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) report in that says criminals are using sports betting to launder $140 billion per year, Sport Integrity director Chris Eaton asserted the target has to change.
“We have been focusing at least for the last five years of time on match fixing yet we need to shift the focus on the cause which is betting fraud & the fact is almost all betting markets are opaque, not necessarily illegal yet they’re not properly regulated,” Eaton told Reuters.
“Because it happens in secret it’s effortless for criminals to manipulate sport betting.
“Match fixing is a facilitating crime for sport betting, not the reverse, so the noteworthy causing crime here is betting fraud,” asserted Eaton in an interview at the Sorbonne University where a Sport Integrity Forum was being held on Thursday.
On Thursday, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported anti-corruption forces were investigating evidence of widespread fixing in the world of cricket in addition to domestic English matches.
Soccer & cricket were identified by the ICSS report as the sports most hit by betting fraud.
