Rolling the Dice

Some of the international sporting federations have a clause in the membership of the member nations that Governments cannot interfere with the running of their sport. As we know with FIFA and the IOC, they believe that they are the highest powers.

There is going to be an impasse very soon as the integrity of many sports has already been brought into question, due illegal betting and match-fixing. Gambling, especially on-line gambling is becoming a huge problem in many countries across the world.

While illegal betting and match-fixing is a far greater problem than betting through approved outlets they are all linked. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stated in 2021 that ‘the role of illegal betting in sports in money-laundering has become a global problem and the financial scale of the problem is such that illegal betting is not only a major driver of corruption in sport, but also a major channel for money-laundering.”

They went on to state that ‘the clandestine nature of money-laundering makes it is difficult to estimate the amount of money that is laundered, the amount laundered globally in one year is estimated to be between USD$800 billion and USD$2 trillion, equal to between two and five per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP).” So this is a huge problem.

The Australian Government and Police have been working hard to stop or limit such operations. They have also been quick to clamp down on the Betting companies operating within Australia.

In Australia gamblers are no longer able to place bets on events that have already started. These laws were designed to limit match-fixing and reduce harm to people with gambling addiction. However, bets can still be placed on live events over the phone.

The bookmakers were ready for this one, and some allowed their clients to place bets on apps that generated an alphabetic “fast code.” The gambler then quoted this when they called the company to place a bet on the phone. This again could be done after a game had started.

In June last year In June, The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) launched an investigation into this practice after receiving a complaint alleging the fast codes were enabling gambling companies to bypass the ban on live betting. At the end of 2023 ACMA ruled that Sportsbet, Bet365 and Entain, – which runs the Ladbrokes and Neds brands, – had all breached the Interactive Gambling Act by accepting bets that were not made entirely over the phone.

ACMA said that all three companies had “taken steps to ensure their use of fast/quick codes complies with relevant interactive gambling rules,” As a result no further action would be taken against them. How much money had these companies raked in during that period?

Many found it hard to believe that ACMA did not enforce any penalties on these companies. Lauren Levin, a campaigner in relation to the long term harm gambling can cause with Financial Counselling Australia, was one who spoke up against the lack of punishment, but also called for those gambling companies to return any losses from the bets. She was quoted in the Guardian as saying, “Arguably these bets, being prohibited by the law, should be made void and consumers should be entitled to refunds, It cannot follow that companies should be allowed to profit from offering an illegal service.”

The problem is many sports, which also have in their constitutions that they should have no links to gambling, are receiving financial benefits from the betting companies for allowing bets to be made on their competitions, and also allowing them to gather data to determine the odds in certain match-ups. Is it illegal to receive money for sharing data?

So, it would appear that some sports face a very tricky time ahead. Will they make the first move and penalise those countries whose National Associations are profiting from gambling, or will they wait until that nation’s Government steps in and then they will punish them? (You Can’t Put a Price on Integrity)

It would appear that it is OK to break the rules as long as you don’t get caught.

One way the Governments could stop this almost overnight would be to simply withdraw any Government funding for sports that are receiving income from gambling. That would certainly free up a great deal of money for the second and third tier sports. Imagine a Government, or a sports minister that had the guts to take such a stand!

The Australian Government has just finished an investigation into online betting and there are expected to be changes in terms of what will be allowed announced in the next few months.

In September last year it was revealed that an Armenian match fixer nicknamed ‘the Maestro,’ had masterminded the biggest illegal betting ring in tennis. It was claimed that he boasted of corrupting more than 180 players and paying them to throw hundreds of matches. Grigor Sargsyan, an Armenian immigrant living in Belgium with no tennis background claimed to have turned savings of $350 into millions. He was jailed for five years.

According to an investigation by the Washington Post, the players he approached were typically from the sport’s lower rungs. They agreed to throw points, games or even sets for money. His network of associates would then profit by betting on the outcome of these points, games and sets. It was claimed that in some matches he had both players in a match working for him.

As is the norm with these sorts of things Sargsyan targeted those who were struggling to afford the cost of living to stay on the Futures and Challenger Tours. One player found to have committed 135 match-fixing offences in less than 10 months was Younes Rachidi. He was banned from tennis for life last year, but did not face criminal charges.

Most of the players caught we have never heard of. They are the players dreaming of breaking into the big time. Players such as Frenchman Yannick Thivant, who reached a career-high ranking of 590. He was one of four players taken into French custody in 2019. It was claimed he received more than $50,000 for throwing points, matches or sets. Eight tennis players living in the United States were named by Belgian authorities as appearing to be part of Sargsyan’s network.

It is unlikely that these unscrupulous individuals will approach the top players as money is not going to be a motivator. They already have plenty. They target those players trying to make money from sport, who are at the bottom of the ladder, or even half way up the ladder and realise that this is as high as they are likely to get.

Sport already has a problem with players gambling on games, now they have a problem with players making extra money from influencing the outcome of games.

Few sports are addressing the issue that the integrity of their sport, their players and matches are now highly questionable. Some sports are trying to keep any involvement with betting companies under wraps, or distance themselves from the issue in the hope that it will go away.

However, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) boldly announced last week “that it has engaged in a partnership with Spring Media to offer fans a betting package that includes all FIH events, representing more than 1,300 matches across a four-year cycle.”

For many close to the sport the alarm bells went off immediately. Hockey is a sport in which the players play more for the love of it than to earn a living. Very few of the top international players earn enough from playing to be able to focus solely on their sport.

Which whether we like it or not, makes them the prime targets for the likes of Grigor Sargsyan. Already there are international players who have online betting accounts, and are trying to supplement what little they earn by betting. As in many other sports they are not so stupid as to bet on games they are involved in, but simply get a friend to place the bet on their behalf.

In 2019 accusations were levelled against players from the World Champion Belgium team for betting on matches. As many as 20 matches starting from the year 2015 to the 2018 Hockey World Cup in Odisha were investigated, Sporza.be reported. No charges were laid following the investigation. It should be pointed out that the accusation was that players had been betting on games they were playing in which is illegal, rather than being involved in illegal betting. So the threat is very real and teh sport would be very naive not to be aware of that.

It is fine to say that ‘a hockey player would never do that.’ ‘They are smarter than that.’ Who would ever have believed that South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje would have taken money from a bookie? In sport you can never say never.

Take the recent Junior Hockey World Cups where some of the participating nations players had to crowdfund in order to be able to participate. Imagine how they may be prey to someone asking them to miss penalty corners, or throw a game for betting purposes, in return for the much-needed funds to allow them to play in a tournament. In a sport where money is very tight, and national teams are having to go down this path you expose yourself, and your players to becoming targets for the likes of Grigor Sargsyan.

One of the ways to curb this kind of behaviour is to ensure that a large percentage of the revenue generated from the Betting income is given directly to the players by the Governing body. Certainly this is something that any players representative groups should be fighting for, and their rep on the FIH board, Rogier Hofman should be advocating; but in truth his is a lone voice and if it went to a vote he would most likely lose.

It was interesting to note that in the press release announcing Spring Media’s involvement with Australia’s Hockey One League, Craig Neilson, Commercial Director, Commonwealth & APAC, was quoted as saying “Former CEO Hockey Australia and former CEO Baseball Australia, Cam Vale, who helped initiate this partnership will continue to support the development of the Spring Media group in the Oceania region working closely with myself on the various ongoing activities.”

One has to ask whether this was appropriate, and was Mr Vale involved in the FIH signing up with Spring Media? Of course it would depend how involved he was, but surely a statement from Oceania Hockey should have made that clear. The reason for this question is that in May 2023, Mr Vale was elected President of Oceania Hockey, and as a result holds a position on the FIH Board. Should Board members be involved in such deals, especially when they involve betting? Should the President of a Confederation be involved in such deals?

Jamie Dwyer Hockey was the naming rights sponsor for Hockey One this year, and one wonders whether Jamie himself was aware of the deal that had been done with Spring Media. Jamie Dwyer has an impeccable public image. He carried himself throughout his career as the consummate professional and a gentleman. That has carried over into his post hockey business interests. It seems hard to believe that he would want to be associated with betting, and would be well aware of the risks such a deal could be to the integrity of the game he loves, and should the worst happen, how much that could impact on his brand.

The trouble is sports like hockey need the money. So they become easy prey to such offers. The promised percentage return is often too good to refuse. However, the risk to the game is far greater than any financial return.

One of the issues facing many sports is that they have no idea the value of their product. This is common across so many sports. The reason that they fail to understand the value of what they have is sometimes because of ego-driven administrators, who are more interested in their own success than the sports. They fail to equate that if you get the sport right then you will get your moment too. However, the real underlying reason is few sports work out what is unique about their sport, what is it that makes people tune in, or come through the turnstiles, and what is the value of that.

It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds. Not just in Hockey, where there are grave fears that like cricket we will start to see games being influenced by betting.

It will also be interesting to see where some of the World bodies go in relation to having allowed National Associations to generate revenue via betting, even though this is not acceptable by their own constitutions, and what they do when the Governments step in and start to put in place hard and fast rules to protect the integrity of those national competitions and the fan experience. Which way will they jump?

One thing is for sure, such agreements need to be tightened up, and what you can bet on has to be restricted, for example once a match starts, just like a roulette wheel spinning there can be no more bets of any kind. Allowing betting during a game is playing a different kind of roulette with the sport, Russian roulette. It will only be a matter of time before someone’s career or life is destroyed.

In 2021 Ghada Waly, Executive Director UN Office on Drugs and Crime wrote “Corruption strips sport of its positive, transformative power.There is widespread recognition of the negative economic and societal consequences of corruption in sport, and in particular its impact on youth.” Regrettably betting and corruption are strongly linked, and now so too is sport. That is why International Federations and National Associations if they wish to protect the integrity of their sport, which is their remit, they would be wise to stay well away from such relationships, and certainly should not be promoting them.

Will the sport of Hockey live to regret this decision? Only time will tell.