‘Keep Crime Out of Sport’ Project Report Approved by EC

March 1, 2018 4:47 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports
March 1, 2018 4:47 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports

On the 7th February, the European Commission (EC) approved the final report from the Keep Crime Out of Sports (KCOOS) Project which ran as a pilot scheme between January 2016 and June 2017. The project was jointly financed by the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe.

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The report was reviewed and ultimately approved by the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG-HOME), who found that there were “high quality multiple deliverables” amongst the objectives of the project. The dissemination strategy of the project was remarked as having been excellent and successful across the EU and beyond.

One of the project’s goals was to provide technical assistance to 33 European nations to aid in implementing the principles of the Macolin Convention. This was a multilateral treaty aimed at the prevention, detection and punishment of match fixing in sports events which concluded in Switzerland in September 2014. The project also put together a KCOOS guidebook chronicling the experiences of participating countries and designed to assist in understanding good practices and the challenges associated with the project’s own objectives.

This approval signals the beginning of the KCOOS+ Project, which will be implemented by the Council of Europe and supporting member states and associated organizations, and which will run until the end of 2020. This is part of the “Macolin roadmap,” which will prepare EU member states for the wider ratification and legal implementation of the principles determined at that convention.

The first stated objective of KCOOS+ is to build a worldwide communication framework. The second is to develop the abilities of the key stakeholders in each participating nation to manage the challenges involved in match fixing. The initial nations involved in funding the project include France, Norway, Switzerland and Cyprus. The World Lotteries Association and the European Lotteries are also providing funding.

One recent result seen from such coordination, and tweeted proudly on the KCOOS+ page, was the batch of 19 arrests made in Madrid, Barcelona and other parts of Spain on February 19th related to a match fixing ring in the lower football leagues. Bets made in this fixing were linked to activity as far off as China, and both coaches and investors were arrested in these raids.

It is likely that the KCOOS+ Project has its work cut out for it in tackling a serious slew of such problems around the globe in all sorts of sports, but it certainly seems to be a promising start in what looks likely to be a long struggle ahead.