A further crackdown on spot betting is on the agenda for Australia’s top sporting organizations. It’s expected that a veto will be added to any future agreements that governing bodies, such as the National Rugby League (NRL), take out with sports betting firms. In the wake of the Ryan Tandy scandal, the NRL has already moved to alter what outcomes bettors can wager on. Now the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) have stepped in.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland chairs the group that has completed a working paper on the issue of spot betting. It proposes that the seven major professional sports take coordinated action. The three recommendations put forward to federal sports minister, Senator Mark Arbib, were a “right to veto” in all sports and betting agency agreements. In addition, it suggested that nationally consistent criminal legislation should be put in place and that the Victoria sports betting legislation should be adopted due to its transparency agreement.
Sutherland commented, “They are individual and collective actions designed to minimise opportunities for corruption and arm sports governing bodies with the ability to deal with corruption effectively if and when it affects Australian sport.”
He also later added that the public thoughts are as important as anything. Sutherland said, “Even the perception that something could be wrong is enough to undermine a sport’s public credibility.”
Spot betting is not an old issue in the world of sport and it was only last summer that three Pakistani cricketers were given lengthy bans. It’s little wonder then that the Aussie authorities are paying more attention to this than the shrimps on the Barbie.
