Money laundering through sports betting

Abstract

Money laundering is one of those offences that accompanies any form of profit generating crime, and this allows the criminal to insert illicitly earned funds into the legitimate economic system. One of the possible methods to achieve this would be to manipulate sporting events and utilise the sports betting sector to launder illicit funds. Some of the factors which render this sector vulnerable to exploitation by criminals would be the absence of an adequately regulated market, such as the Asian betting market. Since match-fixing can act as a facilitator for money to be laundered through the sports betting sector, one must also consider the risk factors for players or other personnel of accepting to participate in fixing a game. In fact, Malta has legislation that criminalises the manipulation of sporting events as part of the prevention of money laundering agenda. Having thorough knowledge and understanding of the topic is essential to be able to tackle these crimes by implementing effective mitigating factors that increase the detection of match-fixing and attempts to launder money through the sports betting sector. Efforts need to be done collectively at different levels, including sports clubs, betting companies, the regulator, and law enforcement agencies. In addition, although detection, investigation and prosecution are important to hinder these crimes from occurring, another effective approach would be to tackle the issue proactively rather than simply in a reactive manner. This could be achieved through carefully planned educational programmes that help individuals who are involved in sports to be properly informed about the serious consequences that engaging in match-fixing could have, and also to ensure that all are aware of how one can report match-fixing attempts safely to the authorities. The lack of reports pertaining attempts of match-fixing results in not knowing the magnitude of the issue at hand, and this can be a factor that holds back the efforts to tackle the issue effectively.