The Increasing Status of Illegal Sports Betting

The legal market for sports betting is actually growing as of these days. But, on the contrary, the illegality of it is also on the rise. Based on the recent UN report, legal sports betting also finds several ways to be included in the black market. The report shows that this illegal sports betting practice is mostly used for the purpose of money laundering.

In an estimation, illegal sports bets already sum up to an amount of $1.7 trillion on an annual basis. The Drugs and Crime Division of the United Nations found out that this has been used by some crime groups. This is to work on their money laundering business.

Compared to legal sports betting, this black market is generally high. In the year 2020, there is about $40 billion checked in amount for the legal sports bets. Well, this is too far from the annual increase in the illegal aspects of sports betting.

In details…

One study of the American Gaming Association conducted last 2020 reveals that there are around 52% US bettors for illegal sports gambling. And annually, money laundering comes through sports betting that sums to a total of $140 billion. Moreover, in the global aspect of sports betting, this illegal act is performed by almost 80% of gamblers according to the Asian Racing Federation.