‘Illegal betting is the number one factor fuelling corruption in sports’, UN conference hears
16 December 2023Law and Crime Prevention
The global problem of illegal sports betting, the fraudulent manipulation of competitions, and the involvement of organized crime in the sporting world has been tackled at a UN conference in Atlanta, United States.

The discussions at the international anti-corruption conference, convened in Atlanta by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), held between 11 and 15 December, built on the ground-breaking Global Report on Corruption in Sport, produced by the UNODC in 2021, which pointed to a dramatic increase in illegal betting, fuelled by the billions of dollars flowing through professional sports, as well as globalization, and technological advances.

UNODC, which is at the forefront of international efforts to support governments and sports organizations in preventing and punishing offences in sport through its Programme to Protect Sport from Corruption and Economic Crime, estimates that up to $1.7 trillion is wagered on illicit betting markets controlled by organized crime.

Speaking at a session on sport and corruption at the conference, James Porteous, Research Head of the Asian Racing Federation Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime, said that illegal betting is now the “number one factor fuelling corruption in sports,” and pointed out that many of the regulations were drafted in the 19th century and are not fit for the internet world.

Illegal betting fuels corruption in sport.
UNODC
Fixed odds: fighting match fixing
Representatives of crime fighting organizations present at the event underscored the scale of the corruption problem.

Humaid Al Ameemi, Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Unit of INTERPOL (the International Criminal Police Organization, an intergovernmental body), explained that manipulation of sporting competitions, colloquially known as match fixing, is a highly organized crime involving money laundering and other illegal activities, and called for improved data sharing.

Mr Al Ameemi described the manipulation of competitions as a “gateway to crime”: Joseph Gillespie, Chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Threats Unit at the FBI (the USA’s Federal Bureau of Investigation), expanded on the theme, emphasizing that the Bureau has a keen interest in addressing corruption in sport, as it provides organized crime with opportunities to make profit through extortion, illegal betting, and other unlawful activities.

INTERPOL, UNODC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have collaborated on a guide for policymakers, to help them to address, and effectively investigate competition manipulation.

Anita DeFrantz, a member of the IOC and a medal winner at the 1976 Games in Montreal, underlined the importance of strong collaboration between sporting organizations and law enforcement agencies in ensuring integrity and credibility, and highlighted the role of the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), which includes international sports organizations, governments, and inter-governmental bodies including UNODC.

The UNODC is at the forefront of efforts to tackle corruption in sport.
UNODC
The ugly side of ‘the beautiful game’
As the world’s most popular sport, awash with huge sums of money, football is particularly prone to corruption. Even the sport’s world governing body, FIFA, has faced criminal accusations and scandals, most notably in 2015, when several FIFA officials were arrested at a prominent Swiss hotel.

Following the investigation by the US Department of Justice into corruption in FIFA in 2016, the international community's attention on corruption and crime in sport has increased significantly, along with calls to act.

The current FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, delivered a video message to the conference, in which he said that protecting football from corruption and ensuring sporting justice is the most important topic for the organization.

“Football is a multi-billion dollar global industry which makes it a potential target for corruption and other kinds of criminal activity and that is something that we should avoid and combat to ensure that the playing field is always level,” said Mr. Infantino.

A renewed Memorandum of Understanding between FIFA and UNODC has, he said, been beneficial in developing over 60 projects linked to anti-corruption, notably the Global Integrity Programme addressing match-fixing, "a platform that facilitates important information exchange between all those combating corruption in all walks of life."

In the wake of the Programme, which involved training over 400 Football Integrity Officers and government officials and tackling competition manipulation, UNODC took part in the Qatar FIFA World Cup Integrity Task Force, to monitor 64 matches for match manipulation (no threats were flagged to the Task Force).

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1144857

Players make too much money to corrupt now, but the refs in all leagues are making phantom calls liike I've never seen before !!!

The betting market is unbelievable not only the illegal one also legal bookmakers for example in the UK.

Both legal and illegal betting destroyed all sports.

Traditionally, bookmakers have been based in horse racing, but nowadays you can go to a bookmaker for all kinds of bets LOL.

Thats right and also thats why I rarely watch sport these days lol

Merlino in his podcast has been saying sports seemed fixed, I thought he was crazy, but reading the above makes me wonder.

People don’t stop fixing sports because the mob is smaller and not as powerful .

The scammers just get less sophisticated then it may be with a mob run scam depending on the member and the family .

These officials seem to have figured this new wide open betting system that is available with legal sport betting .

You can almost put a bet in that a wide receiver can score first touchdown with an untied shoelace .

It’s the many different little bets that is fueling this and the government did this along with being our drug dealer our bootleggers and our casino skim now days …. Our government is our legal gangsters .

O No Canada: The Next Big Sports Betting Scandal Could Erupt North of the Border
https://frontofficesports.com/canada-is-primsed-for-the-next-big-sports-betting-scandal/

• There are no specific laws on the books against match-fixing in Canada.
• The writing is on the wall, say experts, who are already spotting suspicious activity.

2024 Olympics: Betting poised to win big during Paris Games.

When it comes to sports betting, analyst Daniel Wallach says the Olympics is like Super Bowl betting on steroids.

“The Super Bowl and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament are historically the two most heavily wagered upon sporting competitions in all of North America. You take the Olympics, with all those hundreds of contests and thousands of competitors over a multiweek period, it’s going to blow the numbers out of the water,” Wallach, a gambling attorney, said.

Once the Games start, Americans will be able to gamble on just about all the events — and some big names are drawing some big bets.

Haha sports is such a big thing in society talking about it at work for example.it is often positioned as 'the most important side issue in life'. It then turns out that for many, sport gives meaning to life.

You gotta be a real degenerate to place an illegal bet now, anybody in NY/NJ can place a legal bet right from their phones at anytime.

NY bettors placed $2 billion in legal bets in April, that is just in NY and just for the month of April!
Mob has completely lost it's cash cow.

https://igamingbusiness.com/sports-...york-online-sports-betting-handle-april/

We had a scandal around the clan of Piet S. They operated illegal gambling site Edobet the favorite bookmaker of many former professional footballers. You could collect your winnings in cash at the gas station haha.

Into the early Fifties, college basketball was largely a defensive game: Smaller players, called "playmakers," kept moving the ball among them until the big guy (the center) was in a position to make a field goal. Scores were low: in '51, Kentucky won the final playoff game by 67-64 over Kansas State. That made it easy for bribed players to miss one or two field goals or foul shots and bring the final winning margin down to under the bookies' points spreads, or to throw the game to the underdog. In '51, "points-shaving" became a national scandal: 32 players from seven colleges admitted to taking bribes between 1947 and 1950 to fix 86 games in 17 states.

One result was the "shot clock": a rule that a team had to shoot within 30 seconds after taking possession (college) or 24 seconds (pro) or hand the ball to the other team. It turned basketball into an offensive game, making it faster and more exciting for fans; and driving final scores higher, which discouraged points-shaving.

Did this particular scandal involve any members of the underworld? Or was it just a conspiracy to fix games and bet money between various ball players and they're associates?

Wasn't there a well known basketball referee who fixed games for the Italian mob in Jersey or NYC?

I was curious, so I went online for some info about this. After reading a bit, I discovered that there were plenty of gamblers and fixers who participated in this sports bribery and fixing scheme. And YES, it does appear that the “underworld” or mobdom as they put it, was involved to some degree. They specifically mention “mobdom” in reference to defendant Eli (Kaye) Klukofsky. They also mentioned that Sollazzo was a thug and ex-con, having previously been convicted of armed-robbery. But they don’t go any further naming who the racketeers behind them may have been.

Aside from the athletes who were bribed to throw games, here's the lineup of possible "connected" guys in this case:

A) Cornelius Kelleher, Fixer. Sentenced to one year in prison by Judge James M. Barrett.

B) Benjamin Schwartzberg, Fixer. Sentenced to one year in prison alongside his brother Irving by Judge James M. Barrett.

C) Irving Schwartzberg, Fixer. Sentenced to one year in prison alongside his brother Benjamin by Judge James M. Barrett.

D) Salvatore “Tarto” Sollazzo, Fixer. Received an eight to sixteen year long sentence in a state prison for being a key figure in the scandal, though ultimately served twelve years in prison.

E) Robert Sabbatini

F) Eli "Kaye" Klukofsky, Fixer. Suffered a fatal heart attack while awaiting his trial and verdict. Was associated with mobdom and potentially could have implicated more mobsters in his trial before his heart attack happened.

G) Nick Englises, Gambler. Was given an indeterminate sentence of up to three years in prison separate from his brother Tony.

H) Tony Englises, Gambler. Was sentenced to six months in prison separate from his brother Nick.

I) Joe Benintende, Gambler. Was sentenced to around four to seven years in prison.

J) Jack West, Fixer. Was sentenced to around two to three years in prison.

Despite my attempts to search for data linking any of these guys to the "underworld" per se, all results seemed to just regurgitate what was already written about them; they were gamblers, fixers, a ex-con or two, etc. No firm data linking them to any particular organized crime crew or Family.

He’s kinda crazy but not about thinking sports are fixed.