Tebas: “Match-fixing is the most pressing problem currently being faced in sport.”

"Match-fixing is the most pressing problem currently being faced in sport, and it is spreading like an epidemic," LaLiga president, Javier Tebas warned, speaking today at a conference in Brussels organised by the European Commission towards combatting match-fixing in sporting competitions. The conference was attended by representatives of a number of European Commission departments, as well as MEPs, representatives of national delegations in Brussels and police authorities and experts from the sports and gambling industries.

The LaLiga president explained that, over the period in which his investigation and prevention unit had been monitoring betting activity, incidences of match-fixing in football competitions and other sports had been identified, both at a national and an international level. "The criminal organisations behind this fraudulent activity are operating faster than ever," the president continued, adding that the use of betting houses set up outside of the European Union was becoming more and more commonplace, with intermediaries collecting the financial rewards via electronic purse systems. 

To tackle this problem, the president of LaLiga proposed the implementation of a series of measures, including: organisers of sporting events being required to have match-fixing prevention and investigation units in place, betting houses being forced to pay compensation to the organisers – with the money being assigned to these special units - as well as the criminalisation of match-fixing and increased penalties for those found to be involved in such practices.