Evidence on prevalence of corruption in sport

• Author: Argyro Elisavet Manoli
• Pages: 24-33

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5.0 Evidence on prevalence of corruption in sport

5.1 Introduction

This section brings together empirical evidence of the prevalence of different types of

corruption across the EU and specific risks an d areas in need of attention. The analysis in

the section draw s on a rapid literature review and the mapping review undertaken for

this study to identify reported cases of corruption in the sample countries.

5.2 The prevalence of corruption in sport across the EU

A growin g body of li terature on corruption in sport has pri marily focused on examining

the prevalence of specific types of corruption or emerging trends and patterns of

corruption in particular sports ( e.g. Aquilina and Chetcuti, 2014; Buraimo, B., Migali, G.,

& Simmons, R., 2016, Forrest, 2012; Hill, 2009, 2010; Nowy and Breuer, 2017). The

vast majority of sources identified for this review have focused exclusively on match-

fixing or doping. Similarly, a majority of studies have focused on football, while only a

smaller amount of those identified for the review have considered other sports (e.g.

tennis, basketball, cycling). The limited coverage of different types of corruption in the

literature is often attributed to the difficulty in defining and delimita ting sport corruption

itself, which ul timately affects the quali ty of available empirical evidence (Brooks, Aleem

and Button, 2013).

Scale of the problem in Europe

Despite a scarcity of empirical research on ov erall rates of corruption in sport, as well as

on rates of successful prosecution of sports c orruption cases, evidence from the rapid

review suggests a relatively high concentration of corruption issues in Europe c ompared

to the rest of the world. It is widely accepted in the literature that sporting competitions

in Europe need to be particularl y alert to corruption risks given the gl obal success and

coverage of sporting events organised there (Andreff, 2016; Forrest, 2012; Gorse and

Chadwick, 2011). An inventory of cases ranked by continent recently identified Europe

as the geographical region with the highest rates of sport manipulation (Sorbonne and

ICSS, 2014). A statistical analysis of 2,089 c ases of corruption in sport, provi ded by

Gorse and Chadwick (2011) showed that, relative to all continents, Europ e had both the

highest levels of doping (922) and match-fixing (30) cases. Overall the (2011) study

covered a database of match-fixing (betting related), match-fixing (non-betting related),

misuse of ‘inside information’ for betting purposes, and doping cases.

The data analysis offered the following key points:

 Of the 2,089 cases collated, 95.64% were doping cases, with 76.58% of those cases

occurring in Europe and North America;

 Of the 1,998 doping cases analysed, more than 80% of these cases occurred in

athletics, cycling and American sports;

 2.73% of cases collated were examples of match-fixing (betting and non-betting

related) with;

 1.63% of th e cases being examples of the misuse of inside information for betting

purposes;

 Of the 57 match-fixing cases anal ysed (betting and n on-betting related), 85.96%

took place in Europe (52.63%) and Asia (33.33%);

 Majority of cases (70%) that occurred in Europe over the given time period (2000-

2010) were in football;