Money Laundering: the Latest Threat to Sports Betting?
Facing the explosion of online sports betting, many European States have chosen to legalize the activity in order to better control it, but also to benefit from additional tax revenues. However, the conditions of the development of the sports betting market, outside of any serious regulation, raise questions considering the risk that the activity can carry in terms of fraud, match-fixing and money laundering.
Regarding money laundering, no exhaustive study has been conducted to evaluate if the criminal world has invested the betting market. And the judicial cases are rare. The White Book proposes to fill the knowledge gap and take stock of the risks induced by sports betting.
Seven recommendations for national and European public authorities are listed with the aim of protecting the activity and preserving public order.
About the authors:
Christian Kalb is an expert on questions related to sports betting and sports governance. He has worked for the last fifteen years on sports integrity, in particular on the fight against doping and match-fixing.
Pim Verschuuren is a researcher at IRIS, co-author of the White Book Sports betting and corruption, and director of the European program steered by IRIS on raising awareness on the fight against match-fixing.
