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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia's highest-profile sports are backing a government push to make sports corruption a crime with penalties of up to 10 years in prison.
The coalition comprising football, cricket, both rugby codes, tennis, Australian Rules football and netball national administrators met with federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib on Wednesday to support the push for tougher penalties and seek the right for sports to have an automatic veto on certain kinds of spot betting if suspicious gambling patterns emerge.
Arbib will meet with his state counterparts on Friday to discuss the uniform, nationwide penalties to combat match fixing and corruption in professional sports.
The sports ministers will discuss laws to combat spot betting and the leaking of inside sporting information for financial gain. Australia's federal and state governments have already announced plans to phase out the publication and broadcast of live odds during broadcasts of professional sports — either through self regulation by individual sports, or by legislation.
The push for tougher penalties for corruption has intensified in the wake of bribery scandals that overshadowed the recent FIFA congress, an investigation into spot fixing in a National Rugby League match and the recent bans for three Pakistani cricketers accused of accepting money for conspiring to ensure no-balls were delivered at specific times during a match against England.
"The record in Australia has been outstanding — we've had very few instances of betting related corruption ... compared with parts of Europe and Asia. But the sports realize it's a high-risk area, and that's why they're working to do something about it," Malcolm Speed, the former International Cricket Council chief executive who is now executive director of the Coalition of Major Profesional and Participation Sports, told The Associated Press.
James Sutherland, COMPPS chairman and chief executive of Cricket Australia, said the growth of sports betting and the diversity in the types of bets available could increased the temptations to cheat.
"Even the perception that something could be wrong is enough to undermine a sport's public credibility," Sutherland said.
Other major recommendations from the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports are: nationwide criminal legislation against match fixing and sports corruption; the establishment of a framework whereby all betting providers are required to enter an agreement with sports to enable the exchange of information including details of suspicious betting.
COMPPS also agreed to establish a Betting Integrity Group, comprising a member from each sport, to "coordinate joint activity between members and to use the sports' collective power to combat corruption in sport."
"The recommendations detailed in the working party paper set out to preserve the integrity of Australian sport and stem from a desire from professional sports to stamp out betting related corruption," Sutherland said.
"They are individual and collective actions designed to minimize opportunities for corruption and arm sports governing bodies with the ability to deal with corruption effectively if and when it affects Australian sport."
Sports betting is big business in gambling-mad Australia, where an IBISWorld survey last year showed that the market share of sports gambling over five years had nearly doubled from $1.6 billion per annum to $2.9 billion.
Most of the sports in the COMPPS have betting agency logos on their home pages on the Internet, with the bulk arguing that having ties with official betting agencies helps them to monitor gambling and to ensure the integrity of their competitions while also raising sponsorship money.
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The coalition comprising football, cricket, both rugby codes, tennis, Australian Rules football and netball national administrators met with federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib on Wednesday to support the push for tougher penalties and seek the right for sports to have an automatic veto on certain kinds of spot betting if suspicious gambling patterns emerge.
Arbib will meet with his state counterparts on Friday to discuss the uniform, nationwide penalties to combat match fixing and corruption in professional sports.
The sports ministers will discuss laws to combat spot betting and the leaking of inside sporting information for financial gain. Australia's federal and state governments have already announced plans to phase out the publication and broadcast of live odds during broadcasts of professional sports — either through self regulation by individual sports, or by legislation.
The push for tougher penalties for corruption has intensified in the wake of bribery scandals that overshadowed the recent FIFA congress, an investigation into spot fixing in a National Rugby League match and the recent bans for three Pakistani cricketers accused of accepting money for conspiring to ensure no-balls were delivered at specific times during a match against England.
"The record in Australia has been outstanding — we've had very few instances of betting related corruption ... compared with parts of Europe and Asia. But the sports realize it's a high-risk area, and that's why they're working to do something about it," Malcolm Speed, the former International Cricket Council chief executive who is now executive director of the Coalition of Major Profesional and Participation Sports, told The Associated Press.
James Sutherland, COMPPS chairman and chief executive of Cricket Australia, said the growth of sports betting and the diversity in the types of bets available could increased the temptations to cheat.
"Even the perception that something could be wrong is enough to undermine a sport's public credibility," Sutherland said.
Other major recommendations from the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports are: nationwide criminal legislation against match fixing and sports corruption; the establishment of a framework whereby all betting providers are required to enter an agreement with sports to enable the exchange of information including details of suspicious betting.
COMPPS also agreed to establish a Betting Integrity Group, comprising a member from each sport, to "coordinate joint activity between members and to use the sports' collective power to combat corruption in sport."
"The recommendations detailed in the working party paper set out to preserve the integrity of Australian sport and stem from a desire from professional sports to stamp out betting related corruption," Sutherland said.
"They are individual and collective actions designed to minimize opportunities for corruption and arm sports governing bodies with the ability to deal with corruption effectively if and when it affects Australian sport."
Sports betting is big business in gambling-mad Australia, where an IBISWorld survey last year showed that the market share of sports gambling over five years had nearly doubled from $1.6 billion per annum to $2.9 billion.
Most of the sports in the COMPPS have betting agency logos on their home pages on the Internet, with the bulk arguing that having ties with official betting agencies helps them to monitor gambling and to ensure the integrity of their competitions while also raising sponsorship money.
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