Peru: Bill introduced to punish manipulation of sports results amid rapid growth of betting market

Peruvian congresswoman Susel Paredes presented a bill that seeks to incorporate in the Penal Code the crime of manipulation of sports results, which would be punished with a prison sentence of between three and ten years. If the person involved is linked to sports betting, the sentence would be no less than four years.

According to the bill, "whoever, directly or indirectly, promises, offers or gives an undue advantage to another person, for himself or herself or for another person or entity, with the purpose of unduly altering the result or the course of a sports competition, shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than three nor more than ten years."

Likewise, it is proposed as an aggravating circumstance that "when the conduct associated with the alteration of the sports result was incurred by action or omission of an athlete, administrative or sports personnel, coach, referee, agent or representative of athletes, medical personnel, leader of a club, league or sports federation or other person, who has direct or indirect participation or influence in the activity, event or competition, the penalty of imprisonment shall not be less than 4 years."

"A custodial sentence of not less than 4 years shall also apply if the actions are linked to acts of sports betting or its operators intervene," the text adds.

The legislative proposal was presented on November 22 by the Cambio Democrático-Juntos por el Perú Party, in order to "guarantee transparency and fair play in sports competitions and protect the good faith of the public."

In the explanatory memorandum, the bill recalled that, currently, "the manipulation of sports results is only considered as a very serious administrative infraction", contemplated in the Law for the Promotion and Development of Sports.

In this regard, it highlighted the need to sanction this activity because, "in recent years, the sports betting market has experienced a significant and alarming growth."

The project also quoted a study by Attach on sports betting in Peru, which revealed that in 2019 more than two million people participated in this vertical, a figure that rose to 5 million in 2020 and grew to 6 million people in 2021.

Furthermore, it added that 90% of bets correspond to soccer, which, according to the project, "dangerously increases the possibility of incurring illicit acts related to the manipulation of competitions and sports results."

It should be noted that in mid-October, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR) published the regulations of the law that will govern online gambling and sports betting in Peru, which will officially come into force on February 9, 2024.