Sports, as an industry, has evolved from a form of recreation to a commercialized body and with it has increased a lot of legal as well as ethical issues connected with it. Today the sports industry involves the stakes of not only the players but also the nation and its integrity. However, many times certain players and other actors of the sports fraternity engage in immoral and illegal actions deliberately for their personal gain and one such activity is the practice of match-fixing. Most news channels and websites are flooded with incidents of match-fixing in various sports, be it cricket, football, or any other sport. Match-fixing is not only an illegal activity but also an unethical practice on the part of the players who sell off the entire nations\’ trust for some personal benefits.

Match-fixing, as the name suggests, means fixing a particular match to a completely or partially pre-determined result of the game violating the rules of the game and often the law. The most common reason behind it is to obtain a payoff from gamblers, but sometimes teams also intentionally perform poorly to gain a future advantage, such as a better draft pick or, on paper, a less eminent opponent in a play-off.

There are contracts made between players, gamblers, team officials, or referees to fix matches. Often, contracts are signed, which sometimes backfire as the prosecution uses them against the defendant. Other methods involve substitutions made by the coach designed to deliberately increase the team’s chances of losing such as having the player sit out or using minimal or phantom injuries as an excuse, ordering the players in the field to underperform, etc. There have been lots of high-profile scandals involving big players and members of renowned teams leading to court cases or termination of the player or in some cases both.

There is no separate legislation for match-fixing. However, match-fixing is defined by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while investigating various cases under Section (d ) of part 1 of the CBI report. It includes the following acts as culpable:

• Instances where an individual player or group of players received money individually /collectively to underperform

• Instances, where a player placed a bet in a match in which he played that, would naturally undermine his performance

• Instances where players pass on information to betting syndicates about team composition probable result, pitch condition, weather, etc.

• Instances where groundsmen were given money to prepare a pitch in a way that suited the betting syndicate

• Instances of current and ex-players being used by bookies to gain access to Indian and foreign players to influence their performance for a monetary consideration.

In India, most of the match-fixing cases are witnessed in the game of cricket, owing to its huge fan base and number of viewers. According to the FICCI Report on illegal sports, the betting industry in India amounts to almost Rs. 30,00,000 crores which account for nearly 90% of the global betting industry. Therefore, the possible tax at the rate of 20% of the revenue to the Government will range from Rs. 12,000 crores to 19,000 crores.

There are various famous cricketers who have been banned for life due to match-fixing charges against them. Mohammad Azharuddin was the captain of the National Indian Cricket team in 1990 and had a marvelous career. He led India in three World Cups, a feat that hasn’t been replicated by any other Indian Captain to date. But soon he was accused of match-fixing in 2000. The CBI report states that Azhar was the one who had introduced African Captain Hansie Cronje to the bookies. During the investigation, he also confessed to fixing three matches earlier namely, with South Africa at Rajkot in 1996, Pepsi cup matches in Sri Lanka in 1997, and in Pakistan in 1999. Though he denied the claims during media statements, he was banned by the BCCI for a lifetime based on the CBI report. On 8 November 2012, a Divisional Bench consisting of Ashutosh Mohanta, J. and Krishna Mohan Reddy, J. of the Andhra Pradesh High Court revoked the ban stating it “unstainable”.

In the case of S. Sreesanth V. The Board Of Control For Cricket In India, the writ petition emanated from proceedings initiated against S.Sreesanth and a life ban was imposed on him by the BCCI which was challenged before the Kerala High Court. Dissatisfied by the Division Bench judgment of the High Court, the appellant filed the petition. S. Sreesanth was arrested on the basis of a call recording information received by the Delhi Police wherein there was a confrontation by Jiju Jnardan, a friend of S.Sreesanth, and a bookie Chandresh on the matter of fixing the match played by the appellant for Rajasthan Royals against Kings XI Punjab. The conversation dealt with conceding of 14 runs for a consideration of Rs. 10 lakhs. After his release, he was banned by the BCCI on corruption charges but after the petition filed by the appellant in the present case, it was stated that there was no material or evidence proving that the appellant was guilty of the violation of the Anti-Corruption Code formulated by the BCCI. As a result of the petition filed the life ban and other punishments against S.Sreesanth were quashed.

In order to prevent such acts in the future and to maintain the integrity of sports, the government of India came up with a bill known as the “Prevention of Sporting Fraud Bill” in 2013 which has not been passed yet, even after 7 years of initiation of the bill. It proposes that a person is said to commit the offence of sporting fraud in relation to the sporting event if the person either directly or indirectly does any of the following acts:

• He manipulates sports results, irrespective of whether the outcome is actually altered or not, or makes an arrangement of an irregular alteration of the field of play or the results of a sporting event including its incidental events or deliberately misapplies the rules of the sports, in order to obtain any economic or any other person so as to remove or reduce all or a part of the uncertainty normally related to the results of a sporting event.

• He willfully fails to perform to his true potential for economic or any other advantage or benefit for himself or for himself or for himself or for any other person unless such under performance can be attributed to strategic or tactical reason deployed in the interest of that sport or team.

• He being in possession of details as a member discloses such information to a person before or during any sporting event with the knowledge that disclosure of such information is likely to end in gain or is probably going to be utilized in reference to betting or manipulation of a sporting event or omits to perform the duty imposed on him.

Whoever commits the offence of sporting fraud shall be punishable where such sporting will be awarded imprisonment for a term which may extend to three to five years and a fine of rupees five to ten lakhs or thrice to five times the economic benefits derived by the person from sporting fraud, whichever is more, depending on the type of sporting fraud committed.

No court shall take cognizance of an offence under this Act except on a complaint made by the appropriate authority, or a person from the National Sports Federation in charge of implementing its anti-corruption code or rule in such manner as could also be prescribed or an individual after giving notice of not but sixty days, in such manner as may be prescribed to the accepted authority of the alleged offence and of his intention to make a complaint to the court. No court inferior of a Metropolitan Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate of the primary class shall try any offence punishable under this Act. 

ConclusionThere is a dire need to bring about sports legislations in India and allegedly spots the illegal activities relating to sports be it match-fixing or for that matter, any other activity .the act mentioned above needs immediate attention so as to keep the sanctity of the game intact as it carries the nations respect with it .there should proper jurisdiction and legal proceedings or laws for this so that the upcoming events can be stopped and illegal practices adopted by the players to gain certain advantage can be reduced .because sometimes due to lack of such legislation the innocent players or team members are harassed and their career is at stake. If such cases are arising then there is a possibility of such a nuisance at a very larger scale for which no one is being held accountable or punished.

-Srabani Behera

KIIT School of Law

REFERENCE :

1. http://ficci.in/spdocument/20254/report-betting-conference.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Azharuddin

3. S. Sreesanth v. Board of Control for Cricket in India, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 383, decided on 15.03.2019

4. Prevention of sporting fraud bill2013