Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash
Alban Zohn
University of New Haven
Match-fixing stands at the forefront of criminal threats to sport. The European Convention on the Manipulation of Sport Events (Macolin Convention) recommended that countries update their laws to incorporate match-fixing as a specified criminal offense. This change was deemed necessary, because relying on fraud, bribery, and other pre-existing statutes according to various legal analyses may be insufficient at addressing the full scope of match-fixing behavior. More than 30 countries have followed this recommendation and added match-fixing as a specified criminal offense. The United States has not followed suit, and instead still relies on pre-existing statutes, such as the Sport Bribery Act, to regulate match-fixing. This policy brief is an attempt to evaluate whether the existing policies in the United States are sufficient for addressing match-fixing offenses, and it is intended for United States policymakers to consider in improving legislative responses to match-fixing.