LONDON, 10 February 2005 — British lawmakers have called for tough new measures to crack down on corruption in sports-related betting.
A report by an all-party Parliamentary group says the growth of Internet betting exchanges, where it is possible to back horses, individuals or teams to lose, makes sport more vulnerable to fraud and match-fixing. The group calls on the government to adopt a call from Lord Condon, the former top policeman who now heads the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, to raise the maximum jail sentence for gambling cheats above the current two years. The inquiry took evidence from all the major sports including horse racing, football, cricket, boxing, both rugby codes and tennis.
The inquiry says: “Whilst we accept that the greater part of sports betting is neither corrupt nor unfair to punters, the evidence convinces us that the growth of betting exchanges — because of the facility they provide to bet against a result — has increased the potential for corruption.”
In his evidence to the inquiry, Condon, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, told Members of Parliament that the proposed maximum penalty of two years in prison for cheating was “derisory”. Condon said: “You could get a bigger sentence for failing to pay your hotel bill criminally than you could for corruption in major sports.” The inquiry came about after Ladbrokes chief executive Chris Bell claimed that “at least one race a day was being corrupted by the availability of laying horses to lose on betting exchanges”.
