Efforts Underway To Increase Impact of Match-Fixing

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 14th February 2014

Efforts Underway To Increase Impact of Match-Fixing

epa03722443 A ball on the court during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2013. EPA/YOAN VALAT EPA/YOAN VALAT |

The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) is based in London and comprised mainly of former Metropolitan Police officers. Now planned legislation in the United Kingdom could mean match-fixing will be made a specific criminal offence with a jail term of up to 10 years.

Lord Moynihan, a former Minister of Sport in a previous Conservative government and an Olympian at rowing, has tabled a House of Lords amendment, which would give British police and courts more powers to prosecute those involved in match-fixing.

The amendments to the ‘Cheating’ section of the Gambling Act 2005 draw heavily on laws passed last year in the Australian state of Victoria, which have been widely credited as sparking a successful crackdown on corruption in sport there.

Currently the maximum penalty for cheating at gambling in the UK is two years in prison but the amendments propose that is increased fivefold.

Executives from the Lawn Tennis Association, the London-based International Tennis Federation and the Grand Slam Committee, whose Executive Director B. Babcock has his office in the English capital, are expected to join forces with those from British football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and other sports, in a bid to urge the British Government’s Culture Secretary Maria Miller to back the changes, which ultimately require Government approval.

Miller, in turn, wants to hear how sports plan to better co-ordinate their efforts in the fight against match-fixing, both in terms of how players and officials can report their suspicions and preventative measures such as education programs.

One idea is for the Gambling Commission to co-ordinate these strands and it is understood it has liaised with UK Anti-Doping – world leaders in those areas in the fight against drugs in sport – about best practice.

Topics: 10sballs, anti doping, Itf, Sports, Tennis, Tennis Integrity Unit, Tennis News