AUSTRALIA

Australia takes on sporting cheats, but global action needed

Australia is stepping up its game in seeking to stamp out match fixing, though the illegal gambling that underpins the problem is estimated to generate profits of at least $4.2 billion in just six jurisdictions and is growing much faster than legal wagering.

Minister for Sport, Senator Bridget McKenzie introduced new measures in February that also intend to address illegal gambling and doping, after a series of scandals rocked the reputation of teams in the sports mad nation.

The changes will see the creation of a new agency called Sport Integrity Australia, which will bring together the Australian Sports Anti- Doping Authority (ASADA), the National Integrity of Sport Unit and the national sports integrity functions of Sport Australia.

A new National Sports Tribunal will hear anti-doping rule violations and other sports disputes, and resolve them consistently.

Chris Eaton, who has worked on sport integrity at FIFA, INTERPOL and the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), said Australia, Italy and the U.K. have been been the leaders in acting to stop match fixing, but the problem is still growing fast.

According to a white paper released last September by the Asian Racing Federation, growth in the illegal market is more than 30 percent that of the legal betting industry.

Not only that, problem gamblers are the ones most likely to be involved in illegal gambling, which lacks many of the safeguards provided by legal operators. The ARF report found that in Australia, the incidence of non-problem gamblers turning to illegal offshore websites was 21.5 percent, whilst amongst problem gamblers, 78.5 percent were gambling illegally offshore.

Betting in Australia is regulated at the federal and state level. The government introduced changes to the Interactive Gambling Act in 2017 to put an end to offshore gambling operators targeting Australians. The amended act also banned in-play betting services.

However, there needs to be more international cooperation to clamp down on what is now a global business.

“The centralising of national resources will go along way to ensure the effective mutual exchange of information and intelligence into one operational and policy platform,” said Fred Lord, Director Anti-Corruption & Transparency Operations at ICSS.

“There is still far more to be done, as threats to Australian sport are planned, prepared and executed by offshore international criminal enterprises, that are well resourced, experienced, and who share intelligence, financial and networking routes to commit large scale betting fraud. It is important for Governments and sport to understand that electronic sport betting monitoring is not the gatekeeper to protect sport. In fact it can become a fig leaf, if governments do not collectively work together internationally to legalise, regulate and enforce sport betting which still continues to grow at a rapid rate.”

The ARF report studied six jurisdictions -- Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea. In all, it found that illegal gambling was outpacing legal business, with an estimated economic loss to governments across the nations of $10 billion.

About 80 percent of all sports bets were thought to be illegal, with the total amount wagered in 2017 estimated at between $340 billion to $1.7 trillion, with some forecasts even suggesting volume of up to $3 trillion.

“These large illegal profits lead to matchfixing and money laundering,” the report found. “Illegal betting related sports corruption was identified in every jurisdiction, while transnational organised crime launders $140 billion via illegal betting channels every year.”

In South Korea, the illegal betting margin reached as much as 67 percent of the legal market, with that figure at 37 percent in Singapore and 36 percent in Hong Kong. Australia has the smallest portion at 6 percent.

Eaton says the only effective way to tackle the problem is through regulation.

“First and foremost all nations should recognise the reality that sport betting exists in their countries, whether banned or not, and that it will only further expand,” he said.

“Just as self-regulation in sport has failed, so is prohibition of sport betting failing. And worse, in effect prohibition is directly and indirectly driving sport betting into the influence and/or hands of criminals.”

“So, Australia, the UK, Italy and any other national that really wants to fix match fixing in sport, must engage the international community to create global mechanisms to recognise sport betting, regulate its international transactions and respond to unregulated rogue sport betting with aggressive multinational policing and prosecution. Without a global plan, national efforts, even exceptional ones, will fail before the global onslaught of sport betting.”

Paddy Power calls for betting shop competition

The government of Victoria is being urged to consider a revamp of its wagering industry to allow more than one company to operate retail betting shops, local media reports.

Global wagering giant Paddy Power Betfair, which owns Sportsbet in Australia, told the state government that increasing competition in the online betting space has led to greater consumer choice, product innovation and a “better overall experience for wagering customers”. “It is logical that the same benefits could be enjoyed by retail wagering customers if there was liberalization in the retail license structure,” said Sportsbet.

At the moment, only ASX-listed Tabcorp is permitted to run physical betting shops in the state, as it holds the Victorian government’s 12-year wagering license.

Merger drives Tabcorp results

Tabcorp’s combination with Tatts Group has continued to provide strong financial results for the group, with profit, revenue, and EBITDA from continuing operations recording significant increases in FY19H1.

Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) increased more than six-fold to A$182.5 ($130 million) in the first half of the 2019 financial year, while revenue increased by 108.3 percent year-on-year to A$2.8 billion.

Compared to pro-forma results from 18H1, revenue increased 6.1 percent year-on-year in 19H1, while EBITDA was up 9 percent. Tabcorp Managing Director and CEO, David Attenborough said that the company’s integration with Tatts Group has been progressing well, leading to an upgrade of their synergy targets.

“We delivered $24 million of EBITDA from synergies and business improvements in 1H19 and are set to deliver $55 million in FY19, up from our previous target of $50 million.”