Illegal bets make up bulk of Premier League gambling

The vast majority of the nearly €1 billion ($1.13 billion) gambled globally on every English Premier League game comes from illegal bets, the head of a sports integrity watchdog told AFP.

 "Up to one billion euros is bet on each Premier League game," said Chris Eaton, executive director of the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security. 

"Absolutely nothing is immune," he said, adding that the huge sums could be placed on results, regardless of which two teams are playing.

Eaton estimated that up to 80 percent of the amount gambled on each English game is through illegal betting. He said people would bet mostly on half-time and full-time scores and that was where the "big money" could be made.

The illegal betting occurs in countries, or administrative regions within countries, where sports gambling is outlawed. There is no suggestion that the bets affected the outcome of any Premier League matches.

Eaton, a former FIFA head of security, was speaking in Doha on the sidelines of a joint UNESCO-ICSS meeting to follow up on measures designed to combat match-fixing adopted by 121 countries in 2013 at a conference in Berlin.

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