Study on risk assessment and management and prevention of conflicts of interest in the prevention and fight against betting-related match fixing in the EU 28 - Final Report

Abstract

This report concerns the provisions and practices on betting-related match fixing in sports within the 28 Member States. Carried out in late 2013/early 2014, respondents in each Member State reported on that state's gambling-related provisions in respect of football and tennis and (in each country) a third sport determined on the basis of either its popularity (in terms of participation or television viewing) or the existence of betting-related "scandals" in that sport within that particular jurisdiction. Those reports helped the authors to compare the Member States' regulatory and self-regulatory frameworks relating to risk assessment and conflict of interest management, with a view to indicating areas of best practice, identifying particularly good legislative frameworks and highlighting areas where change was either desirable or necessary. While some individual Member States have legislation which might provide templates that others could adapt for their own use, the authors were not convinced that "more law", whether at the national or European level, was desirable. Rather, more effective cooperation among the stakeholders was identified as being more likely to provide tangible benefits than would new legal frameworks.