So I came across this article as well as this one yesterday, and the attendees at the Asian Racing Conference (ARC) suggests that the threat to betting international sports, including horse racing, is expanding due to technological advancements and an extraordinary shift in consumer preference toward illicit gambling operations associated with organized crime. It is said that the general trend of the last two years has been the acceleration of illegal betting by technology, largely due to the lack of regulatory oversight and ethical or reputational concerns regarding the use of technology by these firms to market to consumers, draw in customers, and increase turnover.
According to James Porteous of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), who also served as the research head for the Asian Racing Federation's Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime, for as little as $7,000, illegal operators like Citibet were even offering development, risk management, odds, and customer relationship management to aspiring bookmakers who were engaging in pirated live streaming.
How do they propose tackling it ? Doesn't looks like it can be considering that a lot of people and big names are involved so this will continue to take place and become popular it seems
Yeah, As long as there’s money to be made and people looking to game the system, illegal betting’s gonna keep thriving. Tech has made it stupidly easy for these underground networks to run circles around the outdated rules.
Welp, that's bound to happen! It's the double edged sword of technology. I wonder how they will navigate to stop the clear acceleration of illicit gambling? Maybe come to some sort of agreement with those involved?
The point is, where do we draw the line. Most people have no moral compass and as long as there is money to be made, I don't think they care if it's legal or not. And as @kayden48 mentioned, there are plenty of big shots involved so I don't think it can be taken down either.
Personally I try to keep things as legal as I can, in a few rare cases I might push the line a bit but I know when to stop.
There's always been crime and fixing involved in horse racing unfortunately
It’s crazy how much tech is influencing even the shady side of gambling. Do you guys think there's a way to crack down on these illegal operations, or is it just going to keep growing?
this is sad honestly and I dont think theres gonna be a solid way to stop this. No matter how much regulations. A total ban might solve it though but i dont think people would agree w that
I am not surprised by this at all. @lewisw is right that horse racing has been rigged for a long time and now there is technology available to support this. Like other members here I am not sure how this can be stopped. There is always going to be a market for this kind of technology. Surely the HKJC and others can take action against Citibet to close down their operations?
@graham Yes, the best thing they could probably do is take down the sites who promotes illegal betting. Though, it'll just be an endless cycle because people will always find a way to continue illegal operations in some other ways.
@abaes They can probably take out similar sites like Citibet and take action against it, however technology is unstoppable and they'll find most likely continue growing in the present time and probably innovate other ways to continue the crimes.
@adtya Tech would also be the way to tackle or one of the ways to tackle the issue as well with better digital forensics and analytics.
@ray You are right but if something isn't done to stop it then the technology will appear that much faster and likely improve in a short time. It will certainly act as warning to other companies if the HKJC and other big hitters take action over this. They should have a good case as it all revolves around illegal activities. Better to do something than nothing IMO.
