iGaming Business – A joint report by University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne and the International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) has revealed that illegal sports betting is responsible for laundering $140 billion (€102.4 billion) of money, accounting for 80% of all betting on sport.
The report, entitled ‘Protecting the Integrity of Sports Competition – The Last Bet for Modern Sport’, presents the findings of a two-year research project.
The study discovered all sports around the world are vulnerable to match-fixing, which is driven by illegal betting.
Although football and cricket were highlighted as the most vulnerable sports, the report also picked out tennis, badminton, motor-racing and basketball as other sports that could be subjected to match-fixing.
The report concluded that nations and governments, rather than the sports themselves, must be responsible for disrupting organised crime networks that operate illegal sports betting.
The joint report concluded that it was impossible to determine the number of illegal betting operators, but stated that about 53% of illegal betting is driven by operations in Asia.
The study also found that legal sports betting generates €4 billion in taxes for governments with up to 8,000 operators opting to be based in regions with special tax arrangements or lower rates.
The ICSS noted that the only way to stamp out manipulation of sport by gambling interests is through an international agreement and additionally called for sport bodies to join together their disciplinary procedures and for sports sanctions to be completed by criminal proceedings.
