MGA and ICC unite to fight match-fixing in cricket

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has signed a data-sharing agreement with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to combat match-fixing in a more efficient way. The new partnership will allow the MGA to share valuable data with cricket’s global governing body and jointly protect the sport against corruption and match manipulation.

The Partnership to Strengthen Anti-Corruption

It is worth noting that the ICC consists of more than 100 national governing bodies throughout the world. Its main responsibilities are to govern and administrate cricket, as well as to organise global events, such as last year’s Cricket World Cup in England and Wales. Moreover, it runs the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), which is part of its Integrity Unit, which was established in 2000 to tackle corruption in the game.

The Sports Integrity Manager of MGA, Antonio Zerafa, stated that this data-sharing agreement with the ICC emphasizes the MGA’s continuous commitment to tackling match-fixing and all shorts of manipulation in sports. He also said that the agreement will allow the ICC and the MGA to share important data that are relevant to the process of detecting, investigating and preventing activities related to the manipulation of sporting events.

It is also worth noting that corruption has been present in cricket for many years. The most recent incident took place last December in the Qatar T10 League when the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit was forced to carry out a series of investigations.