Betting Blindspot: Sports' Urgent Need to Understand Global Gambling Complexities
By Pim Verschuuren, Senior Lecturer, University of Rennes; Member, ARF Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime
A prominent Italian football player[1], an NBA-basketball player[2], a group of college American football players[3], other players in Japan[4], Australia[5] or France[6] … A recent string of scandals linked to betting behaviour from professional sportspeople are a reminder of the potential impact on sport’s reputation and integrity from close ties with betting operators who may not have.
Betting by athletes may expose them not only to potential excessive / addictive behaviour but may also lead to competition manipulation either through financial difficulties, thrill-seeking or ignorance.
The recent “Paqueta case”, involving an English Premier League football player who allegedly received yellow cards on purpose on four occasions so his friends and family could benefit from bets placed on this market[7], underlines the risk. Lucas Paqueta has put his entire career at risk for what, according to public reports, was likely very small financial benefit to his friends. He denies the charges.
Notably in that case, the betting reportedly took place among the player’s contacts in Brazil. Since Brazil does not (yet) have a regulated online betting market – i.e. the bets were by definition with operators not licensed in Brazil, or illegal betting by the Macolin Convention’s definition. Further complicating the issue, is that it seems those bets were actually reported to authorities by the betting operators involved according to public reports - perhaps because the operator, ironically, is the shirt sponsor of Paqueta’s team and may have wanted to protect its reputation in jurisdictions in which it is licensed (such as the UK).[8]
The above underline the complexities of the globalised betting industry, which sports and certainly its athletes seem ill-equipped to understand; with the potential financial benefits on offer to often hard-pressed sports organisations from association with the betting industry, it is essential that stakeholders better understand these issues, and not least how and why they are far more exacerbated by association with poorly regulated / unlicensed betting operators.
Level of betting and addiction among athletes: research findings
Numerous research programmes have demonstrated a higher propensity of athletes to bet and likelihood to fall into addiction situations. Research samples cover British football players[9], Gaelic games players in Ireland[10], Swedish sport[11], Portuguese football[12], Cyprus football[13] and a panel of disciplines in Europe[14], among others. Interviews and focus groups recently conducted by the author throughout the Erasmus+ EU MotivAction programme[15] highlight the prevalence of betting in European elite sport population, in particular when coaches and club officials explain how they witnessed the rapid advent of betting behaviour in the teams and academies. Another specificity of sport is the difficulty for many stakeholders to escape addiction situations, leaving them in a trap of silence and isolation within their local sport environment[16].
Three factors to explain betting behaviour among athletes
Several key factors underlined by past and current research help to put this development into context. The first is the growth of betting throughout modern societies. The ubiquity of legal (and also illegal) betting, available anytime on any phone device, supported by large advertisement campaigns, have increased betting behaviour across societies, reaching sport like any other sector. Sport is even more concerned as sponsorship deals have been signed between sport organisations and betting operators – some of whom are of dubious provenance. Betting operators do not only appear on shirts or on ad boards around the pitch, they also appear on official championship names (The French national basketball championship is now called the “Betclic Elite”).
The second reason is linked to the specificities of the professional sport conditions and context. Players and athletes may believe that they know their sport and its environment better than anyone else. They can be tempted to consider that they could make betting money out of their expertise. This could bring them a feeling of power and control. In addition, professional athletes may be more prone to risk-taking attitudes[17], which includes betting or gambling. Team sport athletes could also be influenced by the closed and intimate network of the team, in which betting could become encouraged and routinised as one recreation activities among others[18].
A third factor regards the economic incentives to bet. The MotivAction research programme identifies that many players, group of players or even clubs engage in betting activities, sometimes on manipulated games, to secure additional profits. Past research has also raised this issue[19]. The financial insecurity of professional sport, the lack of players contractual and financial stability undermines work conditions in many disciplines and countries and push individuals to consider alternative money-making activities.
Protecting athletes while embracing betting: the impossible bet?
Given the multiple dangers represented by the spread of betting among its stakeholders (coaches, club and federation officials, referees or judges are also concerned), sport organisations have had to react. They started by introducing betting prohibition in their disciplinary regulation. Although the scope of the ban may vary, the standard is to prohibit any betting on its discipline and/or on its competition (when it is a multi-sport event, such as the Olympics[20]). Awareness-raising campaigns have also been articulated to inform stakeholders about this ban and the consequences should they be caught betting. Sport organisations may also rely on player associations to convey the messages. The Protect Integrity campaigns run by the European Elite Athlete Association is an example[21].
Such campaigns have mostly targeted top professional athletes and teams, but it is likely that many championships, disciplines or even countries have not been covered yet. Also, constantly rotating team line-ups require the messages to be constantly repeated. Besides, where they have been implemented, it remains to be seen to what extent they are well understood: a recent report on anti-manipulation education and awareness-raising campaigns questions their effectiveness[22]: it is easy to set a campaign on foot, it is more difficult to implement an impactful one. Many sport stakeholders may not be aware they that are not allowed to bet on any competition of their discipline, as recent consultations such as the MotivAction Programme suggest.
To enforce the rules, sport organisations increasingly cooperate with public authorities to check if their affiliated stakeholders actually respect the betting ban. They hand the list of registered individuals to the authorities (often the national betting regulating authority), who then cross-checks it with the names appearing on the list of betting accounts provided by licensed betting operators. Athletes could easily circumvent this detection mechanisms by placing bets through intermediaries, or by registering with unlicensed betting operators who do not report such information. But the publication of this checking and the sanctions might serve as a reminder of the applicable rules and as a form deterrence. In France, for example, such checking is conducted on a regular basis in football and every year players are sanctioned for placing bets, despite having been covered by the awareness-raising programmes[23].
The effectiveness of the compliance framework put in place by public and private authorities might be questioned given the prevalence of betting behaviour by sport stakeholders. Of larger concern are the ambiguities (or conflicts of interest) of sport organisations, and public authorities, in the current situation. Attracted by perspectives of large tax windfalls, an increasing number of national and state authorities across the world are opening the gates of betting and legalised offline and online operators. Sport organisations and event promoters also seize the opportunity, lured by financial prospects linked to the sale of sport data to the betting industry, attractive sponsorship deals and the perspective that betting might actually increase sport viewership, therefore indirectly raising economic revenues and legitimacy.
By embracing sports betting for example through sponsorship agreements, sports organisations should consider potential reputational risk - not least when it comes to betting operators who target customers in jurisdictions where they are unlicensed. There is also potential to undermine their own credibility and the effectiveness of their awareness-raising campaigns: as implied above, how to convince stakeholders not to bet when you yourself sign partnerships deals with betting operators who may employ disreputable business practices?
To shield sport stakeholders and protect the integrity of sport competitions, proper regulation of the betting supply and of betting advertisement and sponsorship are required, as well as coherent and substantial integrity policies from sport organisations. As public and private organisations need to cooperate on this matter, the model of national platforms promoted by the Council of Europe Convention against the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (Article 13[24] ‘Macolin Convention’) should be highlighted as a good practice.
It should also be noted that all of these negative impacts are greatly amplified by the involvement of betting operators who would be defined as illegal betting under the Macolin Convention. While Licensed and Regulated operators will typically report suspicious betting behaviour – including that of athletes – those licensed in poorly regulated jurisdictions typically will not. Effective due diligence on potential betting and betting data partners is essential.
[1]Louise Taylor, ‘Sandro Tonali’s 10-month ban over betting complicated by Italy rehab trips’, The Guardian, (26 October 2023),https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/oct/26/sandro-tonali-newcastle-banned-10-month-over-betting,accessed 3 July 2024.
[2]David K. Li, ‘Jontay Porter banned from NBA for gambling on games, giving info to bettors and limiting play for betting purposes’, NBC News, (17 April 2024),https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jontay-porter-banned-nba-gambling-games-giving-info-bettors-limiting-p-rcna148227,accessed 3 July 2024.
[3]Albert Samaha, ‘A betting scandal rocked Iowa sports. Then the case went sideways., The Washington Post, (16 April 2024),https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/16/iowa-college-sports-betting/,accessed 3 July 2024.
[4]News Mobile Desk, ‘Yomiuri Giants pitchers suspended in Japan betting scandal’,News Mobile, (11 November 2015),https://www.newsmobile.in/sports/yomiuri-giants-pitchers-suspended-in-japan-betting-scandal/,accessed 3 July 2024.
[5]LiaHarris, ‘Three Macarthur FC players stood down after being charged over alleged betting scandal’, ABC News, (18 May 2024),https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-18/nsw-a-league-players-stood-down-over-betting-charges/103865078,accessed 3 July 2024.
[6]Robert Fletcher, ‘France’s LFP sanctions footballers for breaching betting ban’, iGB, (23 June 2023),https://igamingbusiness.com/sustainable-gambling/sports-integrity/frances-lfp-sanctions-footballers-for-breaching-betting-ban/,accessed 3 July 2024.
[7]Chris Waugh, 'What we learned from Sandro Tonali’s betting commission hearing',The Athletic, (3 May 2024),https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5467366/2024/05/03/sandro-tonali-newcastle-betting-commision/,accessed 3 July 2024
[8]Patrick Allen, ‘Revealed: West Ham's own sponsor Betway reported suspicious betting patterns that led to Lucas Paqueta's £70m Man City move collapsing’,Goal.com, (no date provided),https://www.goal.com/en/news/west-ham-betway-lucas-paqueta-manchester-city-move-collapse/blt0cf451e66c8a6c98,accessed 3 July 2024.
[9]Lim, M. S., Bowden-Jones, H., Salinas, M., Price, J., Goodwin, G. M., Geddes,J., & Rogers, R. D. (2017). The experience of gambling problems in British professional footballers: a preliminary qualitative study. Addiction Research & Theory, 25(2), 129-138.
[10]Turk, M. A., Murphy, C., McCaffrey, J., & Murray, K. (2023). Predictors of adverse gambling behaviours amongst elite athletes. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 823.
[11]Vinberg, M., Durbeej, N., & Rosendahl, I. (2020). Gambling and gambling problem among elite athletes and their professional coaches: Findings from a Swedish total population survey of participants in four sports. International Gambling Studies, 20(2), 262-281.
[12]Moriconi, M., & De Cima, C. (2020). Betting practices among players in Portuguese championships: From cultural to illegal behaviours. Journal of gambling studies, 36(1), 161-181.
[13]Krambia Kapardis, M., & Levi, M. (2023). Fraud and corruption in football:lessons from a survey of match-fixing in Cyprus. Journal of Financial Crime, 30(4), 891-907.
[14]Grall-Bronnec, M., Caillon, J., Humeau, E., Perrot, B., Remaud, M., Guilleux,A., ... & Bouju, G. (2016). Gambling among European professional athletes.Prevalence and associated factors. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 35(4), 278-290.
[15]https://www.motivactionsport.com/
[16]Brownrigg, A., Burr, V., Bridger, A., & Locke, A. (2018). ‘You shut up and go along with it’: an interpretative phenomenological study of former professional footballers’ experiences of addiction. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(2), 238-255.
[17]Steinbrink, K. M., Berger, E. S., & Kuckertz, A. (2020). Top athletes’ psychological characteristics and their potential for entrepreneurship. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 16, 859-878.
[18]The importance of social networks for the occurrence of problem gambling has been underlined in past research: Reith, G., & Dobbie, F. (2011). Beginning gambling: The role of social networks and environment. Addiction Research& Theory, 19(6), 483–493.
[19]Moriconi, M., & De Cima, C. (2020). Betting practices among players in Portuguese championships: From cultural to illegal behaviours. Journal of gambling studies, 36(1), 161-181; Krambia Kapardis, M., & Levi, M.(2023). Fraud and corruption in football: lessons from a survey of match-fixing in Cyprus. Journal of Financial Crime, 30(4), 891-907.
[20]IOC. (2018). Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions. https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/What-We-Do/Protecting-Clean-Athletes/Competition-manipulation/Code-Prevention-Manipulation-Competitions.pdf
[21]https://www.protect-integrity.com/
[22]EU Athletes, ‘PROTECT Integrity Online Report on Mapping and Recommendations for Developing Education Tools Against the Manipulation of Sport Competitions’,EU Athletes, (30 June 2023),https://euathletes.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/PIO-Report.pdf, accessed 3July 2024
[23]Robert Fletcher, ‘France’s LFP sanctions footballers for breaching betting ban’, iGB, (23 June 2023),https://igamingbusiness.com/sustainable-gambling/sports-integrity/frances-lfp-sanctions-footballers-for-breaching-betting-ban/,accessed 3 July 2024..
[24]Council of Europe, ‘Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions’, Council of Europe Treaty Series - No. 215, (18 September 2014),https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016801cdd7e,accessed 3 July 2024.