Gambling has always attracted an unsavoury element looking to cash in on the huge amounts of money flowing through the casino’s coffers. Gambling crime has historically come in many forms, from fixing machines in order to take hard earned cash from hard working people to using the establishment to launder other ill-gotten gains. Sports betting has historically also attracted gambling crime in various forms, and now with the advent of the sports betting sites, one has to be even more vigilant to prevent unscrupulous people taking advantage of the system.
Sports betting has been around almost as long as the sports themselves have. The legality of betting on sports has varied according to place and time, mostly due to crime and gambling and the associated issues. In America in the early 1900’s there were many famous betting scandals, most of which took the money of punters due to rigged games. One of the most famous was the World Series between the White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. A crooked bookie paid eight players $10 000 each to throw the World Series, which they did. They were found out however, and banned from playing for the rest of their lives, but not before many people lost lots of money, and others became rich overnight.
Horse racing was also not immune to match fixing. There have been a number of attempts to either affect a horse’s performance or take them out of the running, so to speak, permanently. One of the greatest examples of the is the famous horse Phar lap. Not only did he survive an attempt on his life in his native Australia, but eventually when he went to America to race he fell prey to potential bookmaking crime and was poisoned by the Mob.
By far the biggest issue with sports betting is the ability to launder large amounts of money through its channels. This has been a thorn on the side of legal betting establishments for decades and is still an on going issue today. With a bit of research, we counted no fewer than 10 stories related to money laundering and sports betting sites, some of which were native to Australia and New Zealand.
Aside from the crime which is associated with the legal sport betting sites, there is a new wave of illegal betting sites and operations popping up around the world. These con the punter by either pretending to be all above board, and taking their money, or by simply having no legal licenses at all. These illegal sites don’t have to answer to any authorities, so they are basically free to do whatever they please. This leads to not only fleecing of the public but other more nefarious gambling crimes such as match fixing and even doping. The illegal betting industry is so huge that it is reported to be worth $500bn a year, which to put in perspective is five times more than the car maker Toyota makes per year.
To be fair, most illegal betting sites are not based in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, although that isn’t to say that all sites which can be found on the net are above board. The attraction of these syndicates relies a lot on granting access to punters who would not otherwise be legally able to gamble, as well as the convenience of it as some illegal bookies even collect money right from your door.
The biggest setback to the close relationship between sports and betting has come in the form of illegal sports betting. Unfortunately the illegal sports betting industry has grown not only in revenue, but also in reach, and this has recently brought about concerns over how the growth of this illegal industry could affect the outcome … Read moreHow Does Illegal Sports Betting Take Place?
Criminal organisations have long been drawn to horse racing. Whether they are actual fans of the sport remains to be proven, but horse racing offers them ample opportunity to ‘wash’ their dirty money and generate further income in the process. However, this isn’t the only type of crime that has been linked to horse racing, … Read moreThe Link Between Organised Crime and Horse Racing
