Ottawa should tighten rules on match manipulation as legalized sports betting grows, experts say

Raptors player Jontay Porter's lifetime ban from the NBA is just one sign that the rules governing Canada's legal betting industry need to be strengthened to prevent widespread manipulation, experts say.

In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Jeremy Luke, president and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), said that while the Porter case suggests some positive aspects of the legal system, more needs to be done.

"It is positive that through the legalization of single event sport betting and the ability to regulate it, that we're able to ensure policies are in place and that these things can be flagged and that they can be dealt with," Luke told host Catherine Cullen.

"[But] it's certainly a very serious risk that I think we're falling behind with respect to ... protecting the integrity of our sports and the safety of those who participate in sport."

He said the threat posed by match manipulation to the integrity of professional sports — and the trust of sports fans — is similar to the threat posed by performance-enhancing drugs.

Professional sports leagues have been rocked recently by two high-profile cases related to betting. Porter was found to have violated the NBA's betting rules by, among other things, betting against his own team. In the United States, police have charged baseball star Shohei Ohtani's interpreter with bank fraud in relation to allegations that he stole from the L.A. Dodger to pay off gambling debts.

Toronto police have said they are not investigating the Porter case.

Luke said that almost three years after single-event sports betting was legalized in Canada, this country still lacks a comprehensive policy for national-level athletes like Olympians that articulates their obligations and restrictions on betting. On Wednesday — the same day the NBA banned Porter — the CCES published a draft policy that could be applied nationally in Canada.

Luke also said Canada should sign on to the Council of Europe's Convention on the Prevention of Competition Manipulation, a treaty which would compel the creation of a framework, including laws, to protect sport from the threat of competition manipulation, such as match-fixing.

Declan Hill, an associate professor at the University of New Haven and an expert in match-fixing, told CBC's Frontburner early this month that the stakes for sports leagues are incredibly high.

"They've really started to dance with the devil. And I've seen a graveyard of sports around the world that have been killed off by too-close links with gambling. Right across the continent of Asia are just a myriad of sports leagues that have just collapsed," he said.

Hill pointed out that the Criminal Code does not have specific language on match-fixing, for example.

In a statement issued to CBC News on Friday, Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledged the threat to sports integrity posed by competition manipulation and said the government is working with provincial, territorial and international partners on the issue. Qualtrough also noted the work done by the CCES on manipulation.

"Anyone in the sport system, be they an athlete, coach or administrator, who is engaged in this behaviour should be held accountable," she said.