European football clubs partner with virtual bookmakers with links to human trafficking
Illegal gambling sites with links to criminal groups use soccer sponsorship to reach Asian audiences, the EU moves to enhance its anti-trafficking directive, and a charity challenges the UK’s Seasonal Worker visa scheme on the basis of human rights breaches.
Online gambling companies with links to transnational organized crime groups (TOCs) are openly advertising their products via European football (soccer) matches, specifically targeting lucrative markets in Asian countries where gambling is prohibited. A special investigation for Play the Game, which promotes democracy, transparency and free expression in world sport, has found unlicensed gambling operators, which are likely connected to criminal activities including fraud, human trafficking and modern slavery, are vastly increasing their revenues by exploiting gaps in international regulation to reach Asian audiences through partnerships with top football clubs.
UNODC recently estimated that US$1.7 trillion is wagered on illegal betting annually. The industry benefits from the misconception that, if it involves criminal activity, those crimes are largely victimless, according to Play the Game, but “nothing could be further from the truth”. Unregulated gambling serves as a lucrative source of funding for TOCs and their operations, and can be used as a mechanism to conceal and launder the proceeds of illicit activities, including human trafficking. Last year, Chinese gambling kingpin Alvin Chau was sentenced to 18 years in prison for more than 100 charges relating to organized crime and illegal gambling – his Macau-based Suncity junket operator has deep connections with TGP, a “white-label” intermediary agency based in the Isle of Man, which provides UK licenses to Asian-facing betting companies partnered with Premier League clubs.
In total, at least 86 top-flight clubs from the “Big Five” European soccer leagues have signed partnership and sponsorship deals with unregulated Asian-facing online bookmakers since the late 2000s, promoting them in exchange for huge partnership and sponsorship fees, according to Play the Game. In return, gambling companies receive brand association with these prestigious institutions, which gives them the exposure and credibility they need to attract customers in Asian countries where advertising for sports betting is often prohibited. In the absence of any worldwide regulation, legislators, watchdogs and law enforcement agencies are often powerless to put an end to the activities of these transnational bookmakers or to prevent the world’s most popular football clubs from associating with them.
Transnational criminal gangs based in Southeast Asian countries have for several years been harnessing technology and exploiting gaps in international regulation in order to evade scrutiny and make vast profits from their activities. While casinos and junkets in the region have long served as vehicles for regional underground banking and money laundering, the proliferation of online gambling platforms, e-junkets, and both illegal and under-regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Southeast Asia has greatly boosted these operations, allowing for faster anonymized movement of funds. At the same time, the creation and success of these systems has helped expand the region’s broader illicit economy, in turn attracting new networks, innovators, and service providers to the criminal ecosystem of Southeast Asia and the Mekong. UNODC describes this phenomenon as the “supercharging of illicit economies” and highlights the rise of online fraud centers in which victims of trafficking are forced to carry out cyber-enabled scams and financial crimes, and which generate billions of dollars each year.
However, investigations published by media platform Josimar show that the vast majority of football clubs do not conduct proper due diligence and fail to act when they are made aware of the true nature of the companies they do business with. Instead, white-label agencies act as intermediaries, facilitating partnership deals, operating websites, and providing licenses for overseas gambling brands without exposing them to scrutiny. In this way, brands can assure clubs their UK operations are licensed and regulated, and clubs can assure fans their partners are licensed and regulated.
In its recent report on Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organized Crime in East and Southeast Asia, UNODC recommends that collaborative research is done with governments in Southeast Asia to understand illicit financial flows within the region, with an emphasis on gatekeepers and facilitators, offshore jurisdictions, and methods, and that mechanisms are established and enforced to review profiles of investors in casinos, including online platforms and junket operations, to determine beneficial ownership and associations with organized crime. In the UK, officials have called for an investigation by the British gaming regulator into football’s lucrative sponsorship deals and, in April 2023, the UK Gambling Commission issued a £316,250 (US$402,000) fine against TGP for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
The Belgian presidency of the European Council, in collaboration with the European Parliament, last week reached a provisional agreement to enhance the EU’s anti-trafficking directive. The amendments include explicitly recognizing forced marriage, illegal adoption, and surrogacy as forms of exploitation, imposing penalties for their violation, and criminalizing the use of services provided by trafficking victims. The agreement aims to strengthen victim support, implement preventive measures, and enhance sanctions on legal entities involved in trafficking.
Also last week, the Council of the European Union adopted a negotiating mandate to ban products made with forced labour from the EU market; the mandate includes clarifications on the regulation’s scope, the establishment of a forced labour single portal, and enhanced Commission involvement in investigating and proving forced labour use, aligning with international standards and EU legislation. The proposal, responding to an estimated 27.6 million people in forced labour globally, is now set for interinstitutional negotiations with the European Parliament.
Australia’s New South Wales Anti-slavery Commissioner has announced the development of a modern slavery due diligence and reporting framework, covering more than AU$42 billion in procurement. Developed through extensive consultations, the framework includes a key guidance document and practical tools for risk identification, tender clauses, and training materials.
A new Al Jazeera series highlights the exploitation of Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong who paid substantial fees for promised jobs in Poland, only to face delays and deception by recruiters operating across multiple countries. The investigation documents the challenges and fraud experienced by these workers, in a collaboration with Migrasia, a Hong Kong-based social enterprise which provided assistance to the migrants.
The Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU), a legal charity, is challenging the UK government’s Seasonal Worker Visa Scheme in a groundbreaking legal move, asserting a breach of Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to inadequate protection against modern slavery and forced labour. The case involves a client recruited through AG Recruitment, which is authorized by the Home Office, who was subjected to unlawful fees, unlawful deduction of wages, and other instances of labour exploitation; the case seeks compensation and a declaration of the scheme’s violation of Article 4 rights, aiming to prompt a government review.
Former British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to confront the Home Office over its concealed asylum policy, labeled “appalling” by the high court, which adversely impacted the rights of at least 1,500 genuine victims of trafficking and modern slavery, withholding their ability to work, rent, open a bank account, or access benefits while their asylum claims were pending.
In this podcast episode, leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, including Peter Sands of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Sophie Otiende of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and Jonathan Reckford of Habitat for Humanity, discuss the intersection between their work and the climate crisis, and emphasize the urgent need for action, highlighting that 2023 was the hottest year on record.
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