Responsible Gaming Day 17 February 2009 Corruption in Sport – some of the issues Paul Scotney...
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Transcript of Responsible Gaming Day 17 February 2009 Corruption in Sport – some of the issues Paul Scotney...
Responsible Gaming Day
17 February 2009
Corruption in Sport – some of the issues
Paul ScotneyDirector of Integrity Services & Licensing
British Horseracing Authority
British Horseracing
• Principal responsibility is to protect the integrity of British Horseracing.
• In 2002 an influential television programme alleged that British Horseracing was institutionally corrupt – Our response was to set up unit that would focus on betting related corruption.
• Established formal links with the betting industry that are now part of Government legislation.
• Over the last 5 years investigated a significant number of allegations into betting related corruption.
• The outcome has been the exclusion of 15 jockeys from the sport. Sanctions also taken against more than 50 other licensed and non-licensed persons.
The threat is real for all Sports!
• Betting scandals in sport are not new – historically for more than 200 years e.g, Horseracing.
• Another is the American Baseball scandal of 1919 World Series - still strongly featured in any historical account of corrupt betting.
• More recently other sports have suffered in the same way - Cricket (Cronie) and Tennis (Davydenko).
• And football – a number of betting related match-fixing allegations most recently in England.
• Damage to the reputation of the Sport - loss of public confidence in the Regulator and/or the Event.
• Loss of sponsorship opportunities - important revenue streams for the sport.
• Disincentive for people to attend/watch sporting events
• Media outlets (television/radio) more reluctant to cover events.
• Loss of confidence in the sport by betting organisations (Davydenko).
There are further consequences
• Full assessment on the precise nature and level of threat to the sport
• An effective strategy to address these problems to achieve the dual aims of ‘prevention’ and ‘detection’.
• Structure to adequately address the threat including the ability to tackle betting related corruption wherever it occurs and whatever the Political and Betting regimes of the country.
• Commit sufficient level of resource to that structure. Sports Integrity Units must have Intelligence, Investigative, Analytical and Betting expert’s.
Dealing with the Threat: the starting point