Sports Integrity (Betting And Financial Corruption) – The Year In Review 2020/21

Welcome to the Sports Integrity (Betting and Financial Corruption) chapter of the Sports Law Yearbook 2020/2021. 

The aim of this Chapter is to identify and review some of the notable cases and events in 2020/2021 and to discuss what trends might be drawn from them.

And what a year it has been, the tail end comment on ‘Corona’ in last year’s review perhaps understated the impact that the worldwide Covid crisis has had on the world of sport[1].  It has consequentially been a terrible year for ticket touts and pitch-siders and even the Mafia is reported to be taking a hit to its revenues with the loss of illegal gambling opportunities on sport[2] – you can’t furlough a capo - but the work of those engaged in sports anti-corruption units around the world has not stopped because of it.  

So, this Chapter proposes a round up of the efforts of tackling corruption from around the world under these headings:

1. Two Key Themes
2. Corruption cases and fights against it:
   1. Disciplinary and state police activity in tennis, Esports and around the world;
   2. Cases without criminal element;
   3. Organised crime in sports during a pandemic – ghost events;
   4. Match fixing and football betting cases;
   5. Governance corruption;
   6. The need for sport corruption legislation.
3. Conclusions