The Global Lottery Monitoring System participates in a session of the CSCF Sports Integrity Group (Photos)

The meeting was held on April 26 and 27 in Malta with the purpose of sharing information on sports manipulation or match fixing for law enforcement.

The EU co-funded project counts four other country partners and international partners, including the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and supported by Internationale des Footballeurs Professionnelles, Division Europe (FIFPro).

The World Lottery Association (WLA) highlights that the growing problem of sports manipulation is related to fraud and corruption. A complex and often transnational phenomenon that requires a joint effort.

The event attracted participants from diverse law enforcement authorities, legal representatives, sports bodies and gaming authorities, and is one of six to take place during the Integrisport Next Erasmus Plus program (2021-22), in the participating countries of Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Malta and Sweden.

According to the WLA, the two-day event delved into several concrete topics, including the Macolin Convention and the Council of Europe policy to better understand event manipulation, international policy, typology, the vital role of law enforcement and the judiciary within that process, as well as hearing lessons learned from international stakeholders in the fight to protect against this phenomenon.

In this regard, Dr. Norbert Rubicsek, CSCF Director and former Europol officer in the sports corruption unit, together with Project coordinator, Carlos Guttierez, added that Integrisport has evolved as a project over the last three years, impacting law enforcement and judiciary around 14 countries.

GLMS representatives Luca Esposito and Cassandra Fernandes underscored the role of GLMS work in providing key information in intelligence gathering as well as the potential of lotteries to provide relevant contributions to investigations.

Within the conclusions of the event, we must mention some of the necessary actions in the fight against match-fixing:

• Developing guidelines on effective investigation and prosecution of sport manipulation cases
• Implementing whistle-blowing systems
• Planning awareness raising activities and education policies on the topics
• Reviewing guidelines for transferring cases from one investigative authority to another
• Cooperating between police authorities and sport-related bodies