Badminton betting at risk of criminal involvement?

The International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) and University Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne released a study on May 15th regarding the scale of illegal betting in sport, and badminton is one of the sports mentioned in the study.

An ICSS press release quotes Chris Eaton, their Director of Sport Integrity, as saying: “The rapid evolution of the global sports betting market has seen an increased risk of infiltration by organised crime and money laundering. Alongside this, the transformation of the nature of betting, with more complex types of betting, such as live – betting, which according to this study is the most vulnerable, has made suspect activity even harder to detect.”

The Sorbonne-ICSS report, entitled ‘Protecting the Integrity of Sport Competition: The Last Bet for Modern Sport’ includes some rather shocking figures, including the estimate that the transnational sports betting market involves between €200 billion and €500 billion worth of bets per year, and that more than 80% of this is through illegal betting transactions.  The scale seems to be growing along with the overall sports economy, which now constitutes about 2% of global gross domestic product.

The major issue addressed by the report seems to be the relation between betting and manipulation of sports competition and it shows how cricket and football are most at risk.  Badminton is mentioned in the Executive Summary, as an example of a sport that has been tainted by charges non-betting-related manipulation but also as one of the sports rendered vulnerable by a lower rate of publicity.

Click here to read the full ICSS press release