Illegal Bets Estimated to be 1.7 trillion dollars each year in Africa.

According to a recent UN report, the illegal betting and gambling market across the continent has reached an all-time high, with up to $1.7 trillion estimated to be wagered on illicit betting markets each year. According to a new report issued on Thursday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The publication of the first-ever Global Report on Corruption in Sport calls for an immediate, unified, and international response to combat malpractice and fraud across the sector. It reveals a “staggering scale, manifestation, and complexity of corruption and organized crime in sport at the global, regional, and national levels,” according to the UN Agency.

‘Substantial increase’

They were created in collaboration with nearly 200 experts from government, sports organizations, the private sector, and academia. The report is the most comprehensive review of its kind to date. It acknowledges that sports corruption is not a new phenomenon, as fraudulent activities have existed since the ancient Olympic Games. Still, it claims that there has been a “significant increase” in the last two decades. Globalisation, a massive influx of money, the rapid growth of legal and illegal sports betting, and technological advances, it claims, are making it increasingly appealing to criminal networks looking to profit from sport. The report also examines the role of illegal betting, competition manipulation, abuse, the susceptibility of significant sporting events to fraudsters, and organised crime. Finally, it highlights initiatives that can assist in addressing the problem, issues related to detecting and reporting wrongdoing, and how existing legal frameworks can address the issue.

Concrete policies

The report includes a playbook with concrete policy recommendations for governments, sports organizations, and industry regulators. It calls for the strengthening of legal, policy, and institutional frameworks, implementing comprehensive anti-corruption policies, and increased cooperation and information exchange among sports organizations, crime prevention, criminal justice authorities, and policymakers. The report is being released in advance of next week’s biennial UN anti-corruption meeting, the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from December 13 to 17, 2021.

However, Africa’s betting and gambling industry remain far behind in terms of illegal gambling regulation; activities from offshore betting websites targeting African players continue to grow on a daily basis. It is past time for policymakers and regulators to collaborate with stakeholders in the FinTech ecosystem and telecom sectors to censor players’ internet access. In addition to requiring local KYC documents from bookmakers before payment providers onboard any sports betting website, the document provided is critical to limiting illegal activities in the sector. In contrast, the actions of fixed sports events that require immediate attention, as well as all others, are critical to preserving the industry’s integrity, which is still prevalent in the betting and gambling ecosystem.

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