Crime and Corruption in Sport and Gaming
Sports have the power to evoke joy and occasional heartbreak for both athletes and fans who cheer on their school, local, and national sports teams with pride. The FBI's Crime and Corruption in Sport and Gaming (CCSG) program was created to identify, combat, and disrupt the criminal activities that degrade the integrity of sport and erode public confidence in these cherished institutions.
The FBI is working in partnership with sport leagues, sport governing bodies, international law enforcement, and independent watchdog groups to identify illegal activity and bring charges against criminal actors.
The crimes that touch the sporting world include:
- Illegal gambling and illegal sports betting operations
- Game manipulation (AKA Match-Fixing)
- Doping
- Contract fraud; Bribery of persons and institutions
- Extortion and pervasive threats to athletes, officials, and staff
The CCSG program is housed within the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. CCSG has expert coordinators across FBI field offices that conduct outreach to local athletes, teams, organizations, and regulators, as well as open investigations into illegal sports gambling and sports corruption.
CCSG representatives regularly meet with stakeholders to discuss various threats and vulnerabilities posed by criminal actors in sport. Whether it’s identifying an illegal gambling website or reporting a potential match-fixing approach, the CCSG program encourages the reporting of suspicious activity in sport to the FBI.
Notable Laws
The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. the National Collegiate Athletic Association gave individual states the ability to legalize sports betting. Currently, 38 states and the District of Columbia offer some form of legalized sports betting. The FBI is concerned only with illegal sports betting and those who prey on the integrity of athletes or sporting institutions to gain an illegal advantage when betting.
The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was signed into law in 2020. The act made it a violation of federal law to use prohibited substances or methods to influence a major international sporting competition. The act grants the United States the ability to enforce its provisions at any competition in which U.S. athletes participate with three or more athletes from other countries. The competition must also receive financial support from an organization that does business in the United States—this can include a television or radio broadcast in the United States.
The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act was also signed into law in late 2020. This new law standardizes training and racing safety standards.
Sport Crime in the News
Man Sentenced for Threatening Athletes and Their Family Members
In February 2020, the Department of Justice filed charges against Benjamin Tucker Patz, known as “Parlay Patz,” for transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce. According to FBI investigators, Patz sent text and social media messages to several college and professional athletes and their loved ones. The messages often used racial slurs, obscenities, and graphic threats to kill or harm the recipient if the athlete’s performance did not align with Patz’s wagers.
First Defendant Charged With Violating Anti-Doping Act Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court
In May 2023, defendant Eric Lira plead guilty for providing banned performance-enhancing drugs (“PEDs”) to Olympic athletes in advance of the 2020 Olympic Games held in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. Lira was the first defendant to be charged using the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act.
Report Sport Crime
The FBI encourages anyone with information about illegal sports betting operations, doping, fraud, or game manipulation to submit a tip to the FBI online or report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Tips can be kept anonymous.
Illegal Sports Betting
Even as sports betting becomes legalized across the country, the illegal and unregulated sports betting market in the United States is still robust. It is critical for bettors to understand and adhere to applicable laws within their respective area.
Online illegal sportsbooks may look legitimate and can be found with a simple online search. These sportsbooks may be legal for bettors in other countries, but not in the United States. It is the responsibility of each bettor to ensure they wager legally and responsibly.
The American Gaming Association estimates Americans bet nearly $64 billion with illegal online sportsbooks and bookies. Criminals use illegal sportsbooks for a variety of reasons, to include tax evasion, ease of entry, and the lack of reporting requirements and betting limits. Organized crime groups often use the money made from illegal gambling to fund other criminal activities, like the trafficking of humans, drugs, and weapons.
Placing a wager with illegal sportsbooks puts individuals at risk of extortion and threats of violence, which bookmakers may use to collect debts.
Game Manipulation
Athletes, officials, and staff are vulnerable to game manipulation approaches by criminal actors who seek to fraudulently profit off the betting market. Game manipulation, AKA match-fixing, is the act of arranging the outcome or specific play of a competition prior to the event taking place. Criminal actors seek to exploit a person's vulnerabilities, to include financial need, substance abuse, and history of problem gambling, to get an athlete or official to cooperate.
