Do US courts have jurisdiction over international sports federations in match-fixing cases?
In a series of decisions with potential jurisdictional implications for international sports federations, U.S. federal courts in New York have rejected former Nigerian national ...
Sports Integrity: Betting And Corruption – Annual Review 2022/23
Welcome to the Sports Integrity section of the LawInSport Annual Review 2022/23. As in previous years, the aim o...
A Summary of Key Sports Law Cases In Australia in 2022
This is a summary of some of the leading sports law cases that arose in Australia in 2022. It is based on the author’...
Anti-Match-Fixing Action Plan – UEFA’s Recent Activities To Stay On Top Of The Game
In recent years, UEFA has recognised that the problem of match-fixing in football and sports more broadly, needed a s...
Criminal Charges: Why Swiss Court Found Blatter & Platini Not Guilty And What Happens Next
In July 2022, a Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) found former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president...
How The Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority Will Change The Horseracing Industry
The establishment of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) marked a major change in the regulation of...
The Importance Of Early Reporting & Preserving Evidence: Lessons From The Brendan Taylor Cricket Corruption Case
On 28 January 2022, the International Cricket Council (ICC) published two decisions relating to Brendan Taylor1, a fo...
Sports Law in 2022 – Key issues to watch in Central & South America
Here are the top sports law issues to watch out for in 2022 from Central and South America from the LawInSport E...
Key Sports Law Cases And Developments Of 2021 – Central & South America
As we come to the end of a turbulent and challenging year, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight t...
Upping the anti: ICC’s corruption unit hands out 8-year bans to UAE cricketers Ahmed & Hayat
On 29 June 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) published another significant decision in the area of cricke...
ESIC’s novel sanctioning methods in the CS:GO “coach spectator bug” case
In the last year the professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) scene has been rocked by significant alleg...
The NCAA College Basketball Bribery Scandal: The Scheme that Continues to Shake Collegiate Sports
In September 2017, U.S. federal law enforcement officials arrested ten individuals, including four Division I NCAA co...
Fighting Fraud And Match Fixing In Esports - ESIC Refer Team Akuma Case To Valve
In May 2021 EPIC Esports Events, in association with the Russian eSports Federation (RESF), organised and ran the EPI...
ICC v Heath Streak: A Landmark Eight Year Ban For Corrupt Conduct
Cricket has been bedevilled by match fixing and rigged spot betting over recent years, with several high-profile scan...
Prioritising Consistency & Compliance: A Review Of Australia's National Integrity Framework For Sport
Sport Integrity Australia[1] (SIA) was established in 2020 pursuant to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2020&nb...
ICC's Excluded Persons Policy: Checkmate To Manipulation In Cricket?
With effect from January 1, 2021, the International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Code for Participants[1] (Code) h...
Sports Integrity (Betting And Financial Corruption) – The Year In Review 2020/21
Welcome to the Sports Integrity (Betting and Financial Corruption) chapter of the Sports Law Yearbook 2020/2021. ...
Team Owners In Crossfire Over Cricket's Anti-Corruption Rules: ICC v Deepak Agarwal
The International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Code for Participants[1] (the Code) aims to deter a “Participant” (...
Criminal Prosecution Of UK Football Agents: How FA Regulations Overlap The Bribery Act
In December 2019[1], following a two months’ trial at Southwark Crown Court, Giuseppe Pagliara and Dax Price (footbal...
2021 Tennis Anti-Corruption Program - Important Changes To Courtsiding & Inside Information Rules
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA)[1] (previously called the Tennis Integrity Unit) is the anti-corrupt...
Betting On Inside Information In Football: Lessons from the Trippier and Sturridge cases
The recent cases of The FA v. Kieran Trippier[1] and The FA v. Daniel Sturridge[2] have highlighted what is likely to...
Practical Considerations For Introducing A ‘Fit And Proper Test’ To Elected Members Of World Rugby’s Council
Relatively unnoticed during the COVID-19 pandemic was the announcement by World Rugby that they were launching an ind...
Regulating Against Competition Manipulation In Sport
Financial pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to increase the incidence of competition manipulation (f...
Sports law in 2021 – key issues to watch in UK & Ireland
Here are the top sports law issues to watch out for in 2021 from the UK and Ireland from the LawInSport Editorial Boa...
When football administrators end up in prison - the ongoing case of Racing de Santander’s former managers
Racing de Santander has been a historical football team within the Spanish football and has had to deal with some dif...
Where are we now? One year on from the third International Forum for Sports Integrity
In October 2019 delegates from over one hundred stakeholders in sport gathered in Lausanne for the third Internationa...
Indian sports law update: BCCI conflict of interest cases and IPL’s Covid-19 rules
With the recent and much anticipated return of the Indian Premier League (IPL), this Indian sports law update exami...
Cheating in esports: a review of ESIC’s "coach spectator bug" decision
On 2 September 2020 the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced that it was issuing lengthy bans to three ...
The curious case of Wigan Athletic and the English Football League’s owners & directors test
On 1 July 2020 Wigan Athletic Football Club (Wigan) went into administration. It is a sorry fall from grace for a Clu...
Online video gaming: another front in the war against money laundering
The rapid – and mainstream – rise of gaming and esports is not all good news for those in the market. With an increas...
Sports integrity (betting and financial corruption) – the year in review 2019/20
Welcome to the Sports Integrity (Betting and Financial Corruption) section of the LawInSport Year in Review series 20...
Cheating in esports: a review of the “emilshe1n” decision and the role of ESIC in esports regulation
This article was updated on 5 August 2021 to include reference to the successful appeal by Emilsh1en to the sanc...
More than just a number: how India is trying to tackle age fraud in sports
At the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture 2015-16, former Indian cricket captain, Rahul Dravid, spoke on the need to combat...
Hedging your bets: how to regulate Brazil’s multi-billion-dollar sports betting market
In Brazil, casinos and book makers have been banned since 1946, and yet the act of placing a sports bet is not exactl...
How the Houston Astros went from victims of cyber-espionage to perpetrators of a bombshell cheating scheme
The old adage goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. But, at what cost does joining come?
Two years ago, the...
New York appellate court rules fantasy sports is illegal gambling
The New York Appellate Division, Third Department, has ruled that fantasy sports betting is illegal gambling in New Y...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in North America
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in Central & South America
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in Asia & Australia
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in Europe
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in Africa & Middle East
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Sports law in 2020 - key issues to watch in UK & Ireland
As a new year (and a new decade!) begins, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights int...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 – Asia & Australia
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 – Africa & Middle East
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 – North America
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 – Central & South America
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 – Europe
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
Key sports law cases and developments of 2019 - UK & Ireland
As we come to the end of another hectic year, we wanted to take the opportunity to identify and provide some insights...
A review of British Cycling’s decision to suspend the first ever national eRacing champion for cheating
This article reviews the recent decision by British Cycling to disqualify and ban the National eRacing Champion of 20...
How the Brazilian Football Association has regulated bridge transfers
On September 2018, FIFA announced the key points of the reform of its transfer system, as by the Football Stakeholder...
The tension between content creators and game publishers: FaZe Jarvis’s Fortnite ban for aimbot use
Epic Games, the creator of the blockbuster battle royale game Fortnite, has recently banned a leading content creator...
Best practice for sports organisations when managing betting compliance risks (the Rob Howley case)
The sports betting industry is growing at an unparalleled rate. Thanks in no small part to the US Supreme Court openi...
How game theory can help us design more effective whistleblowing polices for sports (Part 2)
This two part article considers how sports bodies can design more effective whistleblowing polices.
Part 1 (availabl...
How game theory can help us design more effective whistleblowing polices for sports (Part 1)
“Whistleblowers”1 can play a vital role in protecting the integrity of sports. They have they been responsible for un...
Legislating for game integrity as U.S. states legalize sports betting
With its May 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA,1 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Professional and Amateu...
Cheating in video games – lessons from Blizzard’s successful case against cheat and bot developer
Blizzard, the video game developer and publisher behind hugely successful games such as World of Warcraft, Starcraft ...
Controversy in African football: Why the 2019 Champions League final highlights fundamental concerns over due process at CAF
“You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.”
Carl Gustav Jung
This article reviews the events arising out of...
Tackling match-fixing in Switzerland: the new duties on International Sports Federations to monitor & report suspected match manipulations
In 2014, the Member States of the Council of Europe (which includes Switzerland) signed the Macolin Convention on the...
An overview of the new FIFA Disciplinary Code
15 July 2019 marked the coming into effect of the new FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC)1, which was notified to all member...
The state of Sri Lankan cricket: corruption, sanctions and amnesty
“You would do well to love cricket for it is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonourable than any game in ...
Sports governance - the year in review 2018/19
In a rapidly changing world, sport is increasingly subjected to technological, socio-economic and geo-political devel...
Sport and anti-doping – the year in review 2018/19
The last twelve months have seen high-drama and new law across the anti-doping world. The review below is necessarily...
Sports integrity (betting and corruption) – the year in review 2018/19
Welcome to the sports integrity (betting and corruption) “year in review”. This article identifies and review some of...
Transparency International UK’s strategies for combatting corruption - A guide for sports organisations
In October last year, Belgian authorities charged 19 people, including referees, agents and football coaches with all...
Esports in South Korea – a short overview of the legal ecosystem
South Korea has always been at the center of esports. In the late 1990’s, the South Korean government decided to buil...
How Sweden’s new gaming and betting market works and its potential impact on the sports industry
A new Swedish Gambling Act1 (the Act) entered into force on 1 January 2019. The Act represents a complete overhaul of...
The growth of esports in India – a short review of the main legal and regulatory challenges
Esports is booming throughout the India, helped by the proliferation of fast broadband connections and a population o...
In-stadium, real-time sports betting in the United States – an overview of legal issues facing clubs and leagues
Last May, the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting, marking the start of a new e...
An assessment of the Council of Europe’s recommendations on the promotion of good governance in sport
On 12 December 2018 the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers issued a set of recommendations for member states ...
Establishing the optimum sports betting regulatory system to protect the integrity of Indian sports
Sports betting is a global phenomenon. Thanks to advances in mobile technology, principally mobile phones, and the pe...
A review of FIFA’s Code of Ethics 2018
On 12 August 2018 FIFA’s revised Code of Ethics1 (Code) came into force. The Code has made a number of changes to the...
Key points from the Report of the Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements
In August 2018, the Report of the Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements1 (Report) was released by the R...
Why ‘winning without counting the costs’ must end – thoughts on The Ethic Centre’s findings into Cricket Australia’s culture
The "withering" findings in The Ethic Centre’s review1 of Cricket Australia’s culture and governance have implic...
A guide to the Owners' and Directors' Test in English football
The owners' and directors' test (also known as the "fit and proper person test") is a test that is applied to directo...
How to build a US gambling system that protects the integrity of sports (key takeaways from Great Britain)
This article considers how the integrity of US sports can be protected from the risks associated with gambling follow...
What the Supreme Court’s Murphy v. NCAA Decision Means for Fantasy Sports
Ever since the United States Supreme Court issued its decision striking down the federal ban on state sponsored sport...
Data collection from sports events: a nonexclusive future?
With the UK football leagues entering the final year of their current data partnerships and the ever-increasing focus...
The IOC’s intervention of AIBA – is this a turning point for international sports governance?
The topic of governance has never been more relevant than it is today. Whether it is the widespread criticism of fina...
UEFA and Financial Fair Play: A review of the AC Milan decision and 2018 changes to the regulations
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body today issued its decision1 regarding AC Milan’s infringements of the Club Licensin...
Why ‘national platforms’ are the cornerstone in the fight against match-fixing in sport: the Macolin Convention
The system of "national platforms" as envisaged under the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competition (...
The role of Information Sharing Agreements in tackling corruption and doping in sport
Information Sharing Agreements have recently been making the news, with the Austrian Play Fair Code and Sportradar an...
“Sandpapergate” - Is the ICC doing enough to combat ball tampering in cricket?
"Sandpapergate", the ball-tampering scandal involving the Australian cricket team was described, among other things, ...
Proportionality of athlete sanctions - A review of the Nick Lindahl match-fixing case
In December 2017, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard the appeal of Professional Tennis Integrity Officers...
The use of betting evidence to combat match-fixing: A review of the Joseph Lamptey decision
On 15 January 2018, FIFA published on its website a motivated arbitral award of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (C...
The major global challenges in managing data to protect sporting integrity
The author spoke at Sportel in October about data issues in relation to the regulation of sport, particularly...
An introduction to the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and how it affects the UK sports industry
All of us working in the sports industry should be aware of the new Criminal Finances Act 20171 (the Act), ...
Football's greatest threat: Why technology & stakeholder collaboration are key to combating global match-fixing
The integrity of football has faced significant challenges in recent years – from governance failures and alleged vot...
Sports Betting in the United States: Supreme Court begins hearing Christie v. NCAA
On Monday, December 4, 2017 the United States Supreme Court began hearing legal arguments in Christie v. National Col...
A guide to Germany’s new criminal law against betting fraud and match-fixing in sports
In 2005, the German sports world was shaken by a match fixing scandal. The referee Robert Hoyzer (amongst others) put...
'An Apple Watch in play to keep the pitcher at bay’: Major League Baseball’s latest cheating scandal
Cheating is as old as sport itself. It comes in various forms and has different levels of sophistication, inclu...
Why sport needs a unified approach to sanctions for corruption offences
In contrast to the World Anti Doping Agency’s (WADA) well known codified sanctions for doping violations, there is no...
A reference guide to the Russian doping scandal and response to the McLaren Reports
This is an extract from the Anti-Doping chapter of the LawInSport & BASL Sports Law Yearbook 2016/17. To access o...
Ticket fraud: A review of the UK’s legislative developments to regulate the secondary ticket market
This article was updated on 27th July 2018
This section considers the on-going developments in England & Wales t...
The integrity framework that can save the ‘Game Act’ and serve as a model for U.S. sports betting legalization
This article suggests enhancements to the proposed bill called the Gaming Accountability and Modernization Enhancemen...
Key points from the Review of the BHA's Disciplinary Panel, Licensing Committee and Appeal Board
One of the author’s recent articles for LawInSport[1] analysed and drew the lessons from the comprehensive Integrity ...
Betting in football – Was The FA’s decision on Joey Barton a fair one?
Burnley FC midfielder Joey Barton is the latest high profile footballer to be sanctioned by The Football Association ...
The rebalancing of power - the need for greater transparency in sports tribunals
Sports governing bodies (“SGBs”) sit at the pinnacle of the sports that they regulate and they wield great power over...
Football’s zero tolerance rule on betting bites once again - Wayne Shaw pie eating case
As the fifth round FA Cup tie between Sutton United v Arsenal entered its 83rd minute, and with the non-league side t...
Bribery in football and corruption at the IAAF – How does the Bribery Act 2010 apply?
The turn of 2016/2017 saw several high-profile corruption allegations levelled against football and athletics executi...
Can suspicious betting alerts prove match fixing? The case of KS Skënderbeu v UEFA
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) recently published its Decision on KS Skënderbeu’s appea...
Is whistleblowing in sport fit for purpose? Part 1 – The current picture
This two-part article explores whether the existing cultures and regimes of whistleblowing in sport are fit for purpo...
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