Publications

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.

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The Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is pleased to share with you the third edition of the ARF Newsletter, which highlights key races, news and developments across the ARF membership; an in-depth profile of the Korea Racing Authority; and updates on the key initiatives of the ARF and its committees.

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Offshore Betting and Gambling Licensing - The Pseudo Regulation of Betting explains how the growth and globalisation of internet-based (‘online’) illegal betting in the past several decades has been accompanied by the expansion of offshore jurisdictions that purport to license online gambling and betting on markets in other jurisdictions.

The Invisible Empire: How Singapore court cases unmasked a multi-billion-Dollar Illegal Betting Syndicate shows that the recent convictions in Singapore’s biggest-ever money laundering case directly linked to illegal betting syndicates spanning China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Dubai and Europe underline how illegal betting, money laundering, organised crime and corruption often go hand-in-hand.

Betting Blindspot: Sports' Urgent Need to Understand Global Gambling Complexities explores how 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.

Franchise Wars - How Citibet and Asia's Other Biggest Bookmakers have 'McDonaldised' Illegal Betting shows how illegal horse racing betting exchange Citibet and other leading Asian operators have massively expanded their potential market even faster than in previous years by offering their markets as software “plug-ins” to thousands of illegal betting sites.

Education, education, education: the Importance of Training in Combatting Illegal Betting  ARF Council member Brent Fisher explains the innovative educational measures implemented in Victoria to empower these officials with the knowledge and tools necessary to combat the challenges posed by illegal betting and other integrity threats on horse racing.

Regulating the Legal Market and Preventing Illegal Betting explains some of the key challenges faced by consumers and regulators alike posed by illegal betting markets – and the danger of over-regulating the easily understood legal market at the expense of tackling the illegal market.

Please refer to our FAQ for more information about the ARF Council and Illegal Betting

How Illegal Betting and Related Money Laundering Flourished Despite 'Crypto Winter' explores how the use of cryptocurrencies – particularly Tether – is now increasingly the norm in illegal betting markets as we enter 2024.

New Research shows the Massive Scale of Illegal Betting in South Korea ARF Council member Tak Sung Hyun provides a summary in English of the research prepared and published by the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, which includes key findings, and recommendations to tackle this huge problem of illegal betting.

The Model of Combatting Illegal Betting outlines the components of a national model that is an example to other countries in combatting illegal betting, which requires collaboration between government agencies, private sector entities in the technology and finance sectors, racing and sports operators as well as regulators.

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.

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.

The document is an up-to-date summary of the key issues that the ARF Council believes are relevant to illegal betting, which are broad and range from driving corruption in racing and sports, the growth of organised crime,the negative social issues (e.g. greater gambling harm, people trafficking),and taxation loss.

The Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is pleased to share with you the second edition of the ARF Newsletter, which features the latest developments across the ARF membership, recent updates related to the ARF and its committees and upcoming events on the horizon.

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.

The Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is pleased to share with you a new ARF publication, the ARF Newsletter, designed to enhance the exchange of information across ARF members and stakeholders. We hope that you enjoy this inaugural edition and find the contents of interest.

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.

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

This report explains how and why cryptocurrencies have become increasingly prevalent in illegal betting, and highlights the threats this poses.

This report examines the impact of the pandemic on illegal betting in Asia in 2020 and finds that COVID-19 caused a surge in illegal betting, and has caused disruption and changes in customer behaviour that will continue to be felt even after the pandemic subsides.

This ARF Report quantifies the economic and social impact that the thoroughbred racing and breeding industries had on ARF member jurisdictions across the 2018/19 racing season.

Incorporating data from ARF members, the Report highlights the industry’s impact on member economies, from direct spending to the jobs the industry supports to the substantial tax revenue it provides.

The Report also quantifies the substantial social impact of the industry through the voluntary contributions it makes to the community in excess of its tax contributions. Combining case studies from member jurisdictions with macroeconomic data, the report paints a compelling picture of an industry that contributes positively to society.

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.