The Australian Football League (AFL) has acknowledged serious deficiencies in its integrity system for online gambling, according to leaked documents seen by Guardian Australia. The documents reveal that the AFL struggles to detect whether players, coaches, and staff are using inside information to manipulate betting markets, which breaches their contracts.
Executives have expressed alarm over an unprecedented increase in integrity risks posed by the wagering industry, which has expanded rapidly since the pandemic. With over 80 bookmakers now offering bets on AFL games, the league admits it lacks visibility across a broad section of betting turnover and only sees the tip of the iceberg.
The AFL has cited specific examples of integrity failures, including an umpire allegedly providing advance notice of outcomes to bettors, a player sharing inside information about a positional change, and an AFLW health professional betting from a partner's account using non-public injury information. In each case, the current monitoring framework failed to detect the activity quickly.
To address these issues, the AFL proposes a centralised database managed by an external AI company, which would ingest all gambling transactions from bookmakers and identify suspicious activity in near real time. The league wants bookmakers to fund this expensive overhaul, sparking a bitter dispute over gambling revenue.
Critics question the AFL's social licence, given its close ties to the wagering sector and promotion of gambling advertising. The league's push for greater oversight comes amid sustained criticism for its association with gambling, including ads viewed by children.
