Calls for sports betting revenue in Canada to reduce gambling-related harms
An increased fear in competition manipulation has led to five key recommendations including the creation of an education program for athletes and coaches
A white paper looking into match-fixing in Canada has made several recommendations including sharing a portion of revenue generated from sports betting to reduce gambling-related harms.
The white paper, published on March 14 by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and McLaren Global Sport Solutions (MGSS), summed up the points made at the Symposium on Competition Manipulation and Gambling in Sport held in Toronto in May 2023.
One of the key takeaways from the symposium was the need for a national competition manipulation policy, with match-fixing considered “the greatest threat to the integrity of Canadian sport”.
In the welcome letter of the white paper, signed by MGSS CEO Richard McLaren and CCES president and CEO Jeremy Luke, competition manipulation was referred to as a “tsunami heading toward Canadian sport”.
Since the introduction of Bill C-218 (43-2) on August 27, 2021, which amended the Criminal Code and decriminalized single-event sports betting, there has been a rise in suspected match-fixing.
According to Sportradar Integrity Services’ Betting Corruption and Match-Fixing in 2022 report, there was a 34% increase in suspicious matches in 2022 compared to 2021.
Among the recommendations made in the white paper to combat the rise of competition manipulation was the development of a national policy for Canadian sport to address match-fixing, to be created by stakeholders and athletes and adopted by national and multi-sport organizations.
The white paper also suggested the creation of an educational program for athletes, coaches, and other sporting participants to protect them from match-fixing, as well as a working group to advise on the national policy, share regulation, and policy best practices while communicating with stakeholders, sporting organizations, and gambling regulators.
While the paper suggested the Canadian government sign up to the Macolin Convention, the multilateral treaty that aims to prevent and punish match-fixing in sport, it also called for a revenue-sharing system which would see proceeds from sport betting go towards community sport development and gambling-related harms reduction activities.
In the white paper, McLaren and Luke said: “Without a national policy or regulatory framework in place to detect or deter manipulation, and no harmonized education for athletes, coaches, and sport administrators about the risks and consequences associated with competition manipulation, Canada is ill-equipped and unprepared to respond to this threat.
“The symposium generated consensus around several principles believed to be essential in building a national approach going forward.
“We need to get ahead of this emerging threat and demonstrate to athletes and coaches that their safety is paramount. Canadians require that the integrity of sport will not be left to chance,” they concluded.