Two separate appeals have been heard in the world of cricket in the last month, both concerning findings of corruption against former Pakistan cricketers, Danish Kaneria and Mohammed Asif. They both have been unsuccessful, but they have each made legal history.

The International Tennis Federation’s Anti-Doping Programme (the “ITF Programme”) has been under fire recently by some of the sports highest profile players, who have urged it to be more aggressive in the fight against doping. 

2012 was a year of epic sporting battles, Mourinho's Madrid found a way to defeat the brilliance of Guardiola's Barcelona, the European Ryder Cup team overcame the odds during the 'Miracle at Medinah', and Bradley Wiggins conquered the French mountains to become Britain's first yellow jersey winner. However, while 2012 will be remembered for the accomplishments of the athletes on the field, it is possible that the most important contest of 2013 will take place in the court room of Spanish judge Julia Patricia Santamaría.

FIFA confirmed earlier this month that Vernon Manilal Fernando, a member of FIFA's Executive committee and the Asian Football Confederation, had been provisionally banned from any football activity for 90 days at the request of Michael Garcia (chairman of the investigatory chamber of FIFA's Ethics Committee) and Hans-Joachim Eckert (chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's Ethics Committee). 

Having detailed some of the match-fixing scandals to have been prominent in 2012, and the approach taken at the London Olympic Games in part 1, we go on to examine action being taken across the globe.

Corrupt sports betting and match-fixing was a high profile issue in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games and continues to dominate the sports headlines. In this article Kendrah Potts looks at what we can learn from some of the processes that were put in place for the London 2012 Olympic Games to identify those involved in conduct which could undermine the integrity of sport.

The year 2012 captured the best and the worst of Indian sports. Whereas Indian sportspersons returned from the London Olympics 2012 with its best ever haul of six medals, the Indian sporting fraternity was shamed due to the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association ("IOA") by the International Olympic Committee ("IOC"). This piece will examine the events culminating in the IOC suspending the IOA and its ensuing ramifications on Indian sports.

According to current Swiss legislation, an executive of a sport organisation based in Switzerland can accept bribes in a bidding process without breaking any laws. Furthermore, a recent criminal court case showed that football players and referees in Switzerland can engage in betting-related match-fixing without committing a crime. The Swiss government now intends to close these loopholes.

Now in its third year, SportBusiness Group and iGaming Business are coming together to deliver the Sport and iGaming Conference 2012 at Pinsent Masons LLP on 29th November 2012.

This one day conference is the only event in the calendar addressing the links between these two sectors, making it the most relevant event of the year for professionals working in the space. The event brings together rights holders, brands, gaming operators and industry suppliers from both sectors to provide both unique networking opportunities and the chance to learn more about the gains to be made from cross sport- igaming partnerships.

On Tuesday the 31st of July 2012, during the Olympic Badminton tournament, four ladies doubles pairs participated in 'Shuttlegate'. These two matches would end their Olympic journeys and serve as a very public example of the newest threat to modern sport; match-fixing.

As previewed in our previous blog, and after several weeks of bitter controversy, the National Court for Sports Arbitration (TNAS) in Italy, as the final appeal body within the sporting justice system, ruled on the position of Juventus head coach, Mr. Antonio Conte. The original 10 month suspension, as confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice in August, has been reduced to 4 months (therefore his ban will terminate on 8th December).

UK Anti-Doping, the national anti-doping organisation, has today confirmed that rugby league player Terry Bridge has received a four-year anti-doping suspension.

Mr Bridge has been found guilty of multiple anti-doping offences having been sentenced to ten months in prison for the possession of steroids in November 2011. He is banned from participation in sport from 6 February 2012 until 5 February 2016.

Mr Bridge, a former reserve team player with Oldham Rugby League club, was found guilty by Liverpool Crown Court for possessing 19 substances with an attempt to supply after police discovered steroids with a black market value of £2,660 in his shop Advanced Nutrition.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the decision by the Professional Tennis Integrity Officers (PTIOs) to impose a lifetime ban on the Serbian tennis player David Savic. Savic, who reached a high of 363 in the world rankings, was found guilty of 'contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event' in October 2011 following reports that he invited another player to engage in match fixing. Although the details of the allegations have never been disclosed, CAS considered that the 'disputed facts had been proven not only by a preponderance of the evidence but indeed to the panel's comfortable satisfaction'.

Italian professional football has been dramatically affected by the recent series of match-fixing scandals. Unfortunately, such a phenomenon does not represent news in Italy: indeed, the first episode of such occurred in the early 1980s (the so called scandals of Totonero and Totonero-bis) leading even to the intervention of police to conducts arrests at the Olympic Stadium of Rome on live TV.

In the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games the International Olympic Committee ('IOC'), representatives of the UK Government and others have stated that sports betting integrity and match-fixing has overtaken doping as the principal threat to the Games.

This is the second part of an interview I did with Julia Mackisack, Director of Corporate Affairs at the 
Gambling Commission ('GC'), who is responsible for managing the communications of the GC (both internally and externally) and works closely with the Chairman and Chief Executive in managing relationships with stakeholders.