US Pledges $2M Grant to Combat Corruption in Mexico Betting

Over the last decade, the popularity of sports betting soared. The activity is available in most of the United States, while also making its way into Canada, as well as countries across Latin America. With the expansion of sports betting come fears about match-fixing and other financial crimes related to the vertical.

Now, a new grant will seek to combat corruption in sports, particularly targeting such activities in one of the United States’ neighbors, Mexico. Labeled as “Combating Sports Corruption,” the grant seeks cooperative agreement between Mexican and American educational or nonprofit organizations and the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

Officially, INL “works to keep Americans safe by countering crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad.” For this particular grant, the Bureau will cooperate with successful applicants and fight illegal gambling, match manipulations or other betting-related unlawful activities.

As explained by the Department of State, the new “project will seek to create and improve procedures and/or investigative techniques on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering related to sports.” The $2 million grant will also focus on facilitating “more effective collaboration between specialized prosecutors’ offices, financial intelligence units, sport’s governing bodies (e.g. Olympic committee, sports federations), and government agencies that regulate sports and sports betting.”

“The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to build capacity for specialized prosecutors, State and Federal financial intelligence units, regulators, and other stakeholders to counter corruption and financial crime related to corruption in sports,“

reads the description of the Combatting Sports Corruption grant opportunity

The grant opened for applications on August 23, 2024.

The Department of State confirmed that the closing date for applications is set for October 23, 2024.

INL Remains Vigilant

While corruption in sports, illegal gambling and money laundering are harmful to the US, there are undoubtedly even more harmful activities. Such include drug trafficking, illegal border crossing, extortion, human trafficking and kidnapping, among other criminal offenses.

According to INL’s agenda for Mexico, the agency combats international crime, including smuggling of drugs and other unlawful activities. “INL helps countries deliver justice and fairness by strengthening their police, courts, and corrections systems,” it explains.

While the INL will focus on combatting corruption in sports, on a global scale, there’s an agency that helps monitor suspicious transactions. The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the nonprofit association that helps unite the efforts of regulated betting operators and combat corruption and match-fixing, constantly monitors global markets.

Recently, IBIA announced an education program that will benefit Canadian athletes. The program became a reality thanks to funding provided by leading operators and IBIA members, FanDuel, Betway and bet365.