All bets are off as minister tackles corruption in sport

Interesting article on the impact of illegal betting on sports from 'Down Under' [excerpt below]:

All bets are off as minister tackles corruption in sport
Glenda Korporaal

MARK Arbib boasts that his elevation to federal Sports Minister last September has had one great advantage. The self-confessed sports tragic, the son of an Italian-speaking Libyan migrant who spent winters kicking a soccer ball and summers at Nippers at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, has at last regained command of the television remote control at home.

"I now have a very good reason to watch more sport," says the Labor Party powerbroker who helped elevate Julia Gillard to the prime ministership last year. "I can say to my wife that it's essential that I watch Fox Sports to get all the results."

Viewing habits aside, Arbib has no doubt about what he sees as the "biggest threat to international sport since doping in the 80s": match fixing and illegal betting.

"When corruption in sport -- either through doping or match fixing -- becomes prevalent, then it threatens the whole existence of sport," the senator says.

Governments and sporting bodies combined forces in the 1980s and 90s to fight the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Now, with criminal groups expanding their influence in sports betting across the world, thereby encouraging sports people to throw games, bowl no-balls or bring about unexpected penalties in football matches, Arbib believes it is time for governments to unite to fight this new scourge.