Australian sports want veto on spot betting

Australian sports want veto on spot betting
By Nick Mulvenney
Australia's seven major sports want to be able to veto types of spot betting and have joined calls for 10-year jail sentences for gambling-related corruption.

Spot betting, where gamblers place wagers on sometimes relatively incidental elements of games such as no-balls in cricket or corner kicks in soccer, is considered the area of sports gambling most suspectible to corruption.

The problem was highlighted by the scandal involving three Pakistani cricketers on last year's tour of England.

Sports gambling in Australia, worth A$2.8 billion ($3 billion) in 2008, is a major growth industry although there have been relatively few cases of corruption to date.

"Even the perception that something could be wrong is enough to undermine a sport's public credibility," Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said in a news release on Wednesday.

The veto proposal was contained in an Anti-Corruption Working Paper endorsed on Wednesday by the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS), which represents rugby (union and league), cricket, Australian Rules, soccer, tennis and netball.

The paper, brought together by former International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Malcolm Speed, had three main proposals.

These also included calls for severe penalties for the offence of "cheating in connection with sports wagering" and a requirement that betting providers provide details of suspcious betting patterns.

The sports also want betting companies to pay a fee for using their "intellectual property rights".

"The recommendations detailed in the working party paper set out to preserve the integrity of Australian sport and stem from a desire from professional sports to stamp out betting related corruption," Sutherland added.

EARLY WARNING

"They are individual and collective actions designed to minimise opportunities for corruption and arm sports governing bodies with the ability to deal with corruption effectively if and when it affects Australian sport."

The paper was presented on Wednesday to Australia's sports minister Mark Arbib, who has been leading the drive for national legislation to combat sport-related corruption and has indicated that he would favour sentences of up to 10 years.

Gambling is becoming increasing linked with Australian sport as TV broadcasts exhort viewers to bet on events and odds are displayed on perimeter advertising.

Some of the bodies represented by COMPPS also generate revenue from gambling through sponsorship by betting companies.

"The answer that the sports give to that, and I think it's a good one, is that one of the key aspects is intelligence -- to get an early warning," Speed told Reuters in an interview in March.

"The best way of doing that is for the betting agencies and the sports to be on the same page so that if there are suspicious betting patterns, they can report that to the sports and the police.

"So it's good they have a close relationship. Whether it needs to be as close as it is, in terms of sponsorship, I think that's the issue they face."