All Bets Are Off: Match Fixing in Sport – Some Recent Developments

Abstract

This article analyses the approach of sporting governing bodies, courts and tribunals to recent incidents of alleged corruption in sport. These include the sanctions imposed by FIFA on a Ukrainian football referee and a Macedonian football club President, who were both handed lifetime bans as a result of their involvement with unlawful betting syndicates, decisions which were ultimately upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Other recent examples of high profile sportsmen falling foul of applicable anti-corruption rules include the four-time snooker World Champion, John Higgins and the trio of Pakistan test match cricketers involved in the ‘spot-fixing’ scandal. This article considers the extent to which a ‘zero tolerance’ trend can be identified from these, and other, recent decisions and reflects on some of the wide-ranging proposals to combat corruption in sport.