A House of Lords select committee has been told that match-fixing is spreading at an "extraordinary" rate worldwide, reaching sports once thought largely immune such as chess, darts and skiing. The International Agreements Committee heard the evidence on Thursday while scrutinising the Macolin Convention, the only international treaty on the manipulation of sports competitions, which the UK signed in 2018 but has only recently moved to ratify. Witnesses warned that organised crime networks are increasingly using match-fixing to launder proceeds from drug and human trafficking, making the issue a growing concern for law enforcement.

Moses Swaibu, a former Crystal Palace academy player jailed over a 2013 fixing scandal at Bromley and now a sports-integrity campaigner, said authorities had failed to keep pace with prediction markets and new technology, and that awareness among young athletes remained poor. Sports-integrity specialist Dr Madalina Diaconu said the problem had broadened well beyond football, cricket and tennis and beyond Asian markets, and that crime syndicates were behind many schemes. Lord Boateng cited a 92% rise in recorded suspicious football matches in Africa. Despite the warnings, Diaconu argued the Macolin Convention works, pointing to successful operations in Belgium and Spain, aided by Europol and Interpol, that dismantled major Mafia syndicates.