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 Australia is considering implementing some stiff penalties for those involved in match-fixing and corruption in sports. Sports minister Mark Arbib announced on Friday that he has been working with state ministers to establish a national framework to deal with gambling-related corruption and that they are considering implementing a law which would make the crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
"We want to make sure that we do everything possible to send a message to those people who want to be involved in match-fixing that there will be jail time, and it won't be a light punishment," he told ABC radio.
"What we're doing now is we're focused on people who intend to manipulate sport for profit through illegal activities.
"We're looking at uniform sentences across the country.
"We're also looking at codes of conduct that get implemented across sports so players, coaches, officials understand what is right, what is wrong."
There have not been very many instances of corruption in Australian sports, but sports betting is a major growth industry worth billions of dollars and sports groups across the board want to ensure that problems do not arise down the line. The Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports called for a federal law to battle the problem earlier this year and the Australian Olympic Committee has also been lobbying the government to establish an independent national sports betting authority to investigate cheating and fraudulent conduct.
Whether a law condemning cheaters to 10 years behind bars goes into effect or not one thing is very clear, match-fixing will not be tolerated in Australia and they will be taking accusations serious.
As always, stay tuned to Casinofan for more news and updates.
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