After years of seeming lethargy, European authorities are finally waking up and tackling the scandal of illegal match-fixing that has besmirched so much of sport and, by extension, the gambling space, writes Grace Graham-Taylor.
The latest player in the match-fixing spotlight is West Ham United and Brazil international attacking midfielder Lucas Paquetá, who was charged last May with deliberately getting booked in four English Premier League matches.
Despite the looming shadow of corruption, 27-year-old Paquetá has been allowed to play on, and will soon know his fate when his case is finally tried next month, May.
Like his fellow football playmaker Sandro Tonali of Newcastle United, if found guilty Paquetá will at the very least face a lengthy ban from the field of play.
For his part Tonali, an Italy international, aged 24, is now back on the pitch running his club’s drive for European football, after serving a seven-month ban for breaching regulatory Football Association rules by betting on matches 50 times between August 12 and October 12 in 2023.
Paquetá and Tonali aren’t the only high-profile players to be caught in a betting or spot-fixing scandal lately.
In January this year, Sevilla defender Kike Salas was arrested by Spanish police on the same charge, allegedly to make money for friends and relatives. And the Spanish courts have not ruled out the involvement of criminal gangs.
The investigations of Tonali, Paquetá and Salas are part of a new regime of intolerance towards fixing that has been slowly unfolding across Europe.
After decades of complacency, sports organisations, local authorities, and international bodies are tackling the unwelcome prevalence of corruption in the continent’s sport.
The crackdown follows a spate of massive scandals, including the breaking of a multi-national match-fixing syndicate in Germany in 2009 that was said to have fixed almost 200 games across the continent, garnering multiple millions through betting markets.
And just two years later, the Finnish football league was rocked when a crime ring with assets worth up to £1 million was discovered to have been bribing players. Wilson Raj Perumel–a known match-fixer from Singapore who is also implicated in the notorious “Asiagate” scandals of 2007-8–was charged with instigating the bribes.
Corruption
All of this negative publicity has given European sport a much-needed wake-up call.
In 2014, European powers launched the Macolin Convention, the first international treaty designed specifically to combat sports manipulation.
And while traditionally sports organisations have been reticent to address the problem of match-fixing publicly, more recently they seem to be willing to grasp the nettle.
Stricter rules around betting for players, the introduction of AI technology to monitor sports and betting behaviour, and a stronger focus on educating players about the severity of match-fixing penalties have all been employed to prevent and capture corrupting influences.
But the issue is far from resolved.
Last year, for example, Spanish authorities arrested 53 suspects tied to a criminal syndicate which fixed matches in more than 20 countries, including Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Belarus.
By comparison, the charges faced by Paquetá and Salas look like petty theft, at best.
Integrity
“As with other crimes, we do not know the exact prevalence of the fixing problem,” Professor David Forrest, a sports integrity researcher at the University of Liverpool, told iGamingFuture.
Professor Forrest, who has worked extensively with UEFA and the European Commission to prevent sports corruption, agreed to speak to me at length on the subject.
“Problems tend to be greater in countries in Southern and Eastern Europe. But no country is immune, and I find it hard to think of even one country where a case has not been revealed,” he affirmed.
Match-fixing is as old as competition itself. But the increasing globalisation of sport–combined with international betting markets–has created new attractions for criminal enterprises.
High-volume betting markets, particularly in football, make it easy for criminal parties to move vast sums amongst millions of other legitimate bets.
Hotspot
Europe is a particular hotspot, accounting for the majority of suspicious matches, as reported by specialist betting monitor Sportradar.
Despite the fact that less than one percent of matches are estimated to be meddled with, vast profits can be made due to the sheer scale of criminal betting operations.
While top-flight players from major leagues grab the headlines, corruption is most prevalent amongst lower leagues, where players are paid poor wages and more likely to be susceptible to bribery.
“On the supply side, there are dishonest players just as in other occupations and more will behave dishonestly if they are short of money,” said Professor Forrest.
“For example, Ireland has had some cases and this is understandable.
“On the one hand, there are very high volumes of betting on some of its matches. [And] on the other hand, its players are badly paid, with the majority [dependent] on second jobs.
“So, there will be criminals willing to pay for a fix and players willing to take the money.”
Suspicious Betting Behaviour
Part of the reason why match-fixing is difficult to track is because much of the global betting market remains unchecked.
This makes it difficult for European authorities to monitor suspicious betting behaviour, which in turn makes potential match fixes harder to identify.
“It would be particularly beneficial if betting were legal and regulated in the main markets in Asia,” argued Forrest.
“Most betting takes place there. Hundreds of thousands can be wagered on quite minor matches without risk of questions being asked in what is essentially a non-regulated environment.”
Negative Perceptions
On the European side, there has been a lack of cohesion between sports organisations, legal organisations, and betting organisations when it comes to tackling the problem.
In general, the involvement of public authorities in sport in many regions is limited, making it a low-risk arena compared to other areas of potential criminal activity.
And many sports organisations lack the legal powers to seize evidence that could lead to proof of corruption.
Governance
Meanwhile, this “attitude of discretion” has hampered the abilities of international criminal investigators, such as Europol and Interpol, to seek out and capture criminal interests.
But this is slowly improving.
In 2022 UEFA and Europol held their first joint-conference; while Interpol has partnered with the Olympic Committee and FIFA has been in talks with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime.
Nevertheless, Professor Forrest stressed that even greater collaboration is necessary if sports corruption is going to be fought effectively.
“It is unlikely that fixing will ever be eliminated, but some countries could do better” he stated.
“We need better sports governance to keep criminal owners out of the sport and to ensure that players are treated well.
“We need strong commitment by betting companies, the gambling regulator, law enforcement and sports governing bodies to cooperate, share information, and investigate cases thoroughly.”
