The Perils and Pitfalls of Insider Betting: The UK Industry Takes Action

Speaking at the 2010 Sport, Gambling and Sponsorship conference in London, Betfair’s David O’Reilly outlined new mechanisms to allow information sharing, and recognition of aligned interests, between betting operators and sports leagues and players, to tackle corruption in sport.

Education of players
Simon Barker, Director of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) reiterates the organisation’s primary emphasis on player education with regard to sports betting. The PPF has introduced four pilot programmes, taught by respected ex-players, aimed at protecting the integrity of sports and sport betting markets, as part of a multi-channel communications strategy.

According to a recent PPF communications audit, less than 60% of players knew or really understood rules on betting, and less than 40% understood rules on insider information, penalties, and means of catching offenders.

The content of the PPF education programmes include information on betting rules and penalties, the risk to players’ reputations, awareness and dangers of gambling addiction and support services, grooming of (usually in-debt) players, and the importance of integrity in sport. The main message is to communicate the high risk/little reward nature of betting malpractice.

New betting group to assist governing bodies
The importance placed on education comes as a result of the 2010 Parry Report – written by a panel of sports betting integrity experts, who were commissioned by the Shadow Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, to investigate betting-related malpractice. The Sports Betting Group was established as a direct result of the Parry Report, to assist governing bodies to make sure necessary education is in place.

Matthew Johnson, Head of Regulatory Legal Advice at the Football Association (FA), stated that the new varieties of betting markets being offered today makes insider betting even more tempting to players. However, increased access to betting - for example, via handheld devices and through traceable IP addresses – makes evidence gathering easier for prosecution.

According to Rule E8 of the FA’s code of conduct, players or participants cannot directly or indirectly bet on a match or competition within which they are participating in any given season. The FA has no statutory investigative powers in betting malpractice or match fixing – its role is to liaise with the Gambling Commission and police with regard to possible offenders.

Should players be banned from betting?
Current issues with regard to regulations on betting malpractice still rage: Firstly, the question remains whether sports should totally ban their players from betting on their sport, as is the case currently for EU cricket, Scottish football, horseracing jockeys and tennis. Secondly, there are those who say that a distinction should be made between technical breaches of regulation and match fixing. Lastly funding for sports betting education remains tight.

Johnson stresses that proportionality in regulation is key, and he foresees that players may be more likely to consider the risk to their reputation, and consequently self-regulate the bets they take. When the final whistle blows, however, Johnson believes that the system ‘must identify and react to betting that may undermine confidence in the sport.’