Criminalizing Match-Fixing as America Legalizes Sports Gambling
45 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2021
Date Written: November 5, 2020
Abstract
In May 2018, the Supreme Court decided Murphy v. NCAA, striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that prohibited states from allowing sports betting. In the two years after the Murphy decision, eighteen states enacted legal sports betting, five states plus Washington, D.C. passed legislation that is pending launch, and twenty-four more introduced sports gambling bills. Somewhat myopically, these legislative efforts fail to address the game integrity concerns flagged by the sports leagues and other entities that create the contests on which bets are being placed. Little attention is paid to the increased risk of match-fixing and in-play manipulation associated with expanded sports betting.
In particular, the enacted and proposed legislation prescribe very little in the way of criminal penalties in the event of betting-related manipulation of the underlying athletic competitions. This article explores the moral and legal dimensions of honest athletic competition and the importance of defining game manipulation as a crime. Building on the historical record and international experience with increasingly sophisticated match-fixers, the article recommends a federal penal provision that makes competition manipulation a separate criminal offence rather than relying on existing general provisions incriminating fraud, bribery, cheating, corruption, or deception.
Keywords: sports gambling, sports integrity, sports law, gaming law, criminal law,
JEL Classification: K14, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation