Senate Committee Backs National Match-Fixing Offences With Penalties of Up to 10 Years
A Senate committee has recommended that Parliament pass the Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026 without amendment. The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee tabled its report on 2 October 2026, according to law firm K&L Gates. The bill, introduced on 20 August by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland and Sport Minister Anika Wells, would create Australia’s first national criminal offences for match-fixing, with a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. At the time of writing the bill had not passed the Senate.
What the bill does
The bill inserts a new Part 10.10 into the Commonwealth Criminal Code and creates seven offences covering match-fixing, sports corruption and the misuse of inside information. Published summaries describe the main ones as:
- Corrupting a sporting event – up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
- Inducing or soliciting someone else to corrupt an event – up to 5 years.
- Possessing information about corrupt conduct with the intention of using it – a preparatory offence with no equivalent in state or territory law, according to Senet.
- Improper use of inside information, with the concept of information that is “generally available” adapted from the insider-trading rules in the Corporations Act.
Companies face fines rather than jail. The offences cover conduct in Australia and overseas, and prosecuting a foreign national for conduct wholly outside Australia requires the Attorney-General’s consent.
Not tied to betting
The offences do not require a link to a bet, a deliberate departure from the 2018 Wood Review, which had recommended betting-linked offences. The protected interest is the integrity of the sporting contest itself. Senet notes one practical reason: betting on under-18 competitions is generally prohibited, so a betting-linked offence would make the manipulation of junior fixtures harder to prosecute. Fixing a result for a sporting reason, such as losing to gain a better draft pick, can also fall within the definition, according to The Daily Aus.
Most existing state laws are betting-linked, while Tasmania and Western Australia rely on general fraud provisions. The federal offences supplement rather than replace state law.
Why it matters to punters
Recent Australian cases have involved betting markets that look minor. The Daily Aus cites the Macarthur FC case, in which captain Ulises Dávila was alleged to have paid teammates Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis $10,000 each in December 2023 to collect yellow cards, a common A-League betting market. Football Australia banned Baccus and Lewis for five years, reducible to four, and Dávila was convicted and fined $11,000 in February 2026.
The review behind the bill found Australian sport is vulnerable to international organised crime, with Asia identified as the main concern because of widespread illegal gambling and time zones that suit betting on Australian events, AAP reported. Grooming athletes or people with inside knowledge is described as the usual method. Player-prop markets such as cards, first goalscorer or disposals are easier to manipulate than a match result because one person can influence them.
For bettors, the practical message is simple: an unusual market move is not “inside information” you should act on, and trading on genuinely corrupt information could itself become a federal crime under the bill.
Macolin Convention
The bill is described by the government as a step towards ratifying the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (the Macolin Convention), which Australia signed in February 2019 as the first non-European signatory. Some provisions will only commence once Australia ratifies. Our page on the Interactive Gambling Act covers the wider legal framework for wagering in Australia.
Not yet. The Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026 would create seven federal offences. A Senate committee recommended on 2 October 2026 that it pass without amendment. Most states already have their own match-fixing laws.
Up to 10 years’ imprisonment for corrupting a sporting event and up to 5 years for inducing or soliciting someone to do so. Companies face fines.
No. Unlike most state laws, the federal offences are not linked to betting, so they can apply to fixing in competitions where betting is not offered, such as junior sport.
Sources
- K&L Gates: Australian Senate committee recommends criminalising match-fixing (14 October 2026)
- Senet: Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill 2026
- The Daily Aus: Government bill targets match-fixing in Australian sport (21 August 2026)
- The Leader (AAP): Crackdown to stop organised crime grooming athletes (20 August 2026)
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Header photo: Australian Senate – Parliament of Australia by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.