UN worried about Super Bowl Betting and Tennis

In Las Vegas alone, $119 million worth of bets are made on the Super Bowl. And this is only a fraction of the amount that’s wagered on the NFL’s biggest game every year when you consider internet sportsbooks. These numbers have the United Nations worried about the potential for match-fixing and they’re taking steps to prevent the problem.

As Yahoo News reports, online Super Bowl betting has pushed the amount wagered on all sports to an astronomical $1 trillion per year. So the UN sector that deals with organized crime is now issuing a handbook covering ways that sports governing bodies can protect athletes’ integrity.

This handbook will include tennis, which, according to the International Centre for Sport Security, is the most vulnerable for match fixing. Tennis represents a quarter of all online sports betting, and 28 players have been accused of match-fixing to help organized crime syndicates.

None of these players have been punished yet, and the Association of Tennis Professionals denies the claims. The sport points to its Tennis Integrity Unit, which both catches players who’ve purposely thrown matches and teaches others how to avoid being influenced by organized crime.

The UN isn’t the only organization on high alert with regard to sports gambling. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a “code” of guidelines for athletic associations aimed at preventing match-fixing and other manipulations of sports. The body’s president, Thomas Bach, says clean athletes should not “see the finger of suspicion pointing at them.”

In the United States, daily fantasy sports (DFS) have also raised concerns. While Yahoo doesn’t see DFS having a corrupting influence on any Super Bowl players, they do think it’s questionable for the NFL to sell data that helps DFS participants.

Online sports betting is expected to soon sur the amount of revenue made from ticket sales and advertising combined. Many sports organizations have tried to increase integrity training to keep up with this trend. But in the eyes of the UN and IOC, this may not be enough to stop potential match-fixing. So these organizations are aiding in the fight against athlete corruption by releasing more materials to cut down on match-fixing and organized crime involvement.