Confronting the Threats to Integrity - Illegal Betting Markets and Disruptive Technology
August 19th, 2024
The ARF’s latest compendium of 2 major reports and 18articles collates the Council’s latest research on the threat of illegal betting markets to the integrity of racing and other sports. From February 2023to April 2024, the ARF Council's Bulletins have been shedding light on the ways technological breakthroughs can be exploited by organised crime, all of which are now included in one edition.
Variable Betting Duty & the Impact on Turnover, Illegal Betting & Taxation Revenues
November 6th, 2023
The report provides an analysis of variable Betting Duty (tax) rates on racing and sports betting operators to assess the impact on legal markets of higher rates and the related impact on betting turnover in the illegal betting markets. The economic impact of excessive Betting Duty in the Internet age is to drive consumers to the illegal betting market.
How Organised Crime Operates Illegal Betting, Cyber Scams & Modern Slavery in Southeast Asia
October 10th, 2023
The report shows how illegal betting and related cyber-scam operations linked to human trafficking are utilised by transnational organised groups causing corruption and financial crime on a global scale.
Anti-Illegal Betting & Related Financial Crime Bulletin July 2020 to December 2022
February 10th, 2023
This compendium is a collection of ARF Council Bulletin articles from July 2020 to December 2022 covering topics related to anti-illegal betting and related financial crime.
How China's Crackdown on Illegal Betting Impacts Global Betting Markets
September 21st, 2022
This report examines Mainland China’s crackdown on illegal betting from 2018 to mid-2021, its background, purpose and impact. It is based on official announcements and statistics, 315 Mainland Chinese media articles related to illegal betting, and English-language reports. The report details:
Why China is so concerned about illegal betting
Insights into the scale of the problem
The crackdown’s impact on wider illegal betting in Asia
Notable shared characteristics of illegal betting operations
Why China’s crackdown is relevant to other jurisdictions
The State of Illegal Betting report examines the current situation of illegal betting, what this means in relation to legal betting, and what both will look like in the future. The report includes analysis of more than 500 betting websites to examine their licensing status, products offered, website traffic, server locations and other data points.
The report also includes a series of commentaries from ARF Council members on how sports data can fuel illegal betting; the greater negative impacts of illegal betting and gambling-related harm; international and intergovernmental issues around corruption in sport; and notable examples and development in sports law in relation to illegal betting. The report also includes contributions from INTERPOL and the UNODC regarding their views on the relationship between illegalbetting, sports corruption, and organised crime.
Good Practices in Addressing Illegal Betting: A Handbook for Racing and Sports Organisations to Uphold Integrity
October 19th, 2020
This Handbook highlights the risks to the integrity of horse racing and other sports from illegal betting-related sports corruption, and provides practical guidance to administrators and other key stakeholders for mitigating against and combatting such corruption.
Practical guidance in the Handbook includes an overview of major issues around illegal betting, how to conduct bet monitoring and betting analysis, intelligence gathering and analysis, how to conduct illegal betting investigations, and how to engage stakeholders to combat illegal betting and related corruption.
This paper covers illegal betting markets in six ARF jurisdictions. Although these jurisdictions are different in many ways, key commonalities were found in relation to illegal betting:
it funds organised crime,
it harms society directly and indirectly, and
it is a threat to sporting integrity.
This paper provides insights into the scale and nature of these negative impacts.
