The Efficacy (and otherwise) of the 'new' Sport Anti-Corruption Legislation

<p>In 2011 all Australian governments agreed to ‘pursue nationally consistent legislative arrangements to address the issue of match-fixing’. The Foreword to the agreement states that, ‘this national policy on Match-Fixing in Sport represents a commitment by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to work together to address the issue of inappropriate and fraudulent spots betting and match-fixing activities with the aim of protecting the integrity of sport.’</p><p>To date a number of Australian states have incorporated ‘Cheating at Gambling’ provisions into their criminal statutes. Against a background of several serious local and international match-fixing scandals, and the proposed or suggested need of similar provisions in foreign jurisdictions,this paper considers the efficacy of the Cheating at Gambling provisions in combating sports corruption and compares the usefulness of these new provisions with the offence of fraud, the ‘traditional’ means by which the criminal law dealt with corruption in sport. In doing so a number of ‘events’ concerned with sports corruption are provided for purposes of illustration.