Australian horse racing authorities have joined the fight against illegal offshore bookmakers as part of the Asian Racing Federation’s biggest ever crackdown on underground operators.
In a bid to combat the flow of billions of dollars heading into illegal bookies’ pockets, the organisation has assembled an anti-illegal betting task force with the aim of investigating black market betting across Asia.
And Australia, via the country’s Criminal Intelligence Commission, is playing their part in the crackdown by becoming the first law enforcement agency to sign a memorandum of understanding with the federation.
Offshore bookmakers are an attractive option for homegrown punters as they’re not governed by Australia’s rules and regulations, often offering customers higher betting limits and ‘in-play’ markets which are illegal on these shores.
But Racing Victoria executive general manager of integrity Dayle Brown had a clear message for Aussie punters thinking about placing bets with offshore bookies.
“We have made it a rule of racing that licensed people must bet with authorized bookmakers and it is against the rules to bet with these underground operators,” he told the media.
“In some parts of Asia, more than $1 billion is going out of the racing economy and that’s got to stop.”
The newly formed taskforce is expected to provide a platform for the sharing of information on illegal gambling between the member states.
Integrity officers from a number of the ARF’s 21 member states, including Australia and New Zealand, are set to be briefed on the impact of illegal betting by members of Interpol.
The ARF also hope that government agencies will become involved in the fight to combat black market betting once the taskforce uncovers the size of the problem.
The current illegal betting outlook across Asia is best summed up by one look at the Chinese sports betting market – worth $801 billion – which the International Center For Sports Security claims is 85 per cent illegal money.
