Ottawa should tighten rules on match manipulation as legalized sports betting grows, experts say
Raptors player Jontay Porter's lifetime ban from the NBA is just one sign that the rules governing Canada's legal betting in‐ dustry need to be strength‐ ened to prevent wide‐ spread manipulation, ex‐ perts say.
In an interview airing Sat‐ urday on CBC Radio's The House, Jeremy Luke, presi‐ dent and CEO of the Canadi‐ an Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), said that while the Porter case suggests some positive aspects of the legal system, more needs to be done.
"It is positive that through the legalization of single event sport betting and the ability to regulate it, that we're able to ensure policies are in place and that these things can be flagged and that they can be dealt with," Luke told host Catherine Cullen.
"[But] it's certainly a very serious risk that I think we're falling behind with respect to ... protecting the integrity of our sports and the safety of those who participate in sport."
He said the threat posed by match manipulation to the integrity of professional sports - and the trust of sports fans - is similar to the threat posed by perfor‐ mance-enhancing drugs.
Professional sports leagues have been rocked re‐ cently by two high-profile cases related to betting. Porter was found to have vio‐ lated the NBA's betting rules by, among other things, bet‐ ting against his own team. In the United States, police have charged baseball star Shohei Ohtani's interpreter with bank fraud in relation to allegations that he stole from the L.A. Dodger to pay off gambling debts.
Toronto police have said they are not investigating the Porter case.
Luke said that almost three years after single-event sports betting was legalized in Canada, this country still lacks a comprehensive policy for national-level athletes like Olympians that articulates their obligations and restric‐ tions on betting. On Wednes‐ day - the same day the NBA banned Porter - the CCES published a draft policy that could be applied nationally in Canada.
Luke also said Canada should sign on to the Council of Europe's Convention on the Prevention of Competi‐ tion Manipulation, a treaty which would compel the cre‐ ation of a framework, includ‐ ing laws, to protect sport from the threat of competi‐ tion manipulation, such as match-fixing.
Declan Hill, an associate professor at the University of New Haven and an expert in match-fixing, told CBC's Frontburner early this month that the stakes for sports leagues are incredibly high.
"They've really started to dance with the devil. And I've seen a graveyard of sports around the world that have been killed off by too-close links with gambling. Right across the continent of Asia are just a myriad of sports leagues that have just col‐ lapsed," he said.
Hill pointed out that the Criminal Code does not have specific language on matchfixing, for example.
WATCH | Raptors player banned for betting viola‐ tions
In a statement issued to CBC News on Friday, Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough ac‐ knowledged the threat to sports integrity posed by competition manipulation and said the government is working with provincial, terri‐ torial and international part‐ ners on the issue. Qual‐ trough also noted the work done by the CCES on manip‐ ulation.
"Anyone in the sport sys‐ tem, be they an athlete, coach or administrator, who is engaged in this behaviour should be held accountable," she said.
Luke told The House that Canada needs clear criminal laws on competition manipu‐ lation, especially since indi‐ viduals rarely act alone and often work in tandem with others connected to orga‐ nized crime.
The effort to legalize single-event sports betting in Canada goes back years, but the change was finally pushed through in 2021, when Bill C-218 gained royal assent. Conservative MP Ke‐ vin Waugh put forward that legislation.
In a separate interview on The House, Waugh said the Porter case showed the ben‐ efits of a legal betting regime that's transparent to regula‐ tors and leagues.
"This will not be the first time this [happens], but I do think it does send a signal to athletes and to those of, let's say, shady circumstances that want to fix sports ... It does send a signal that peo‐ ple are watching this," he said.
Waugh, a former sports‐ caster, said he didn't regret the push for legalization but acknowledged that some ad‐ ditional changes should be considered. He said various
provinces have formulated their betting industries differ‐ ently, resulting in a range of advertising and betting land‐ scapes.
"Legally, we only have one product in Saskatchewan," he said. "Ontario is the wild wild West."
Waugh said another as‐ pect of the sports betting regime that needs a closer look is how the industry deals with addiction. Advo‐ cates have raised concerns about worsening gambling addictions in Canada thanks to widespread betting avail‐ ability and advertising.
"I want to see some mon‐ ey [dedicated] to addictions," he said. "And I think each province and territory that is involved in gaming should re‐ lease those numbers, how much money you're putting into addictions, because it is an area of concern."