International pro tennis provides a fertile breeding ground for breaches of integrity, says a report. The Independent Review Panel, led by British QC Adam Lewis, was set up by the sport’s governing bodies to investigate allegations of corruption.
The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the volume of betting on tennis, and in the number and range of events and matches, and so players, on whom bets can be placed, worsening what the report authors call the ‘integrity challenge facing the sport’. Only the top 250 to 350 players earn enough money to break even. Yet there are nominally 15,000 or so ‘professional’ players. The imbalance between prize money and the cost of competing places players in an invidious position by tempting them to contrive matches for gain, according to the report.
The availability of live scoring data in respect of many more matches at lower levels and so many more players has dramatically expanded the opportunities to bet on tennis, and so the opportunities to cheat at betting on the sport. Robust betting markets are now offered in respect of large numbers of matches between players at the lower levels, where previously that was not the case. At the same time, many structural elements of professional tennis, particularly at those lower levels, create unintended incentives for players to exploit those opportunities through conduct that threatens the integrity of the sport. To tackle this problem, tennis needs a bold response, the report says.
The report calls for regional Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) officers, to establish closer relationships with local stakeholders, including national federations, law enforcers and officials. The centralisation of the TIU in London ignores that tennis is an international sport; the TIU’s investigatory staff consists almost entirely of people with backgrounds in British law enforcement. The unit needs ‘greater legal, geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity’, it’s claimed. Criminal prosecution, conviction and sanction does not occur frequently enough to amount to an effective deterrent, according to the report.
Gambling-related corruption is a challenge facing many sports, and the TIU should attempt to join forces with other sport regulators who are grappling with this issue, the report says, such as golf, football, and cricket and baseball. The report says that sports ‘share a common interest in effectively combatting all integrity threats, especially match-fixing, which strikes at the heart of legitimate competition. They also face similar challenges in effectively policing against betting-related breaches of integrity.’ Sports authorities and law enforcement agencies should keep one another informed, cooperate with one another and coordinate within existing frameworks such as the INTERPOL Match-Fixing Task Force. However, the report acknowledges that ‘the worldwide regulatory framework for gambling is very fragmented’.
The governing bodies of professional tennis (ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Board) confirmed agreement in principle with the recommendations proposed by the IRP; such as the removal of opportunities and incentives for breaches in integrity; a restructured, more independent TIU, more education of players, expanded rules, and greater co-operation and collaboration.
The Interim Report, which goes back to the 2000s and arose from 2016 media allegations of match fixing, was made available for consultation. Interested parties are requested to provide any comments by June 25. Submissions should be addressed to Jonathan Ellis, the Solicitor and Secretary to the Panel, at [email protected].
