The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted unanimously to forbid all wagering on the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on sports betting platforms in the Commonwealth.
The vote came just days after the Chinese soccer league banned 43 players and officials for life, the result of a two-year investigation into allegations of widespread match-fixing in the sport.
The CFA is a member of the international soccer governing body FIFA. Due to the association’s FIFA affiliation, betting on CFA matches was previously allowed in Massachusetts. Since Massachusetts sports betting launched last year, all FIFA events have been approved for wagering.
Massachusetts regulators prohibit Chinese Football Association betting
The MGC received an alert about the CFA match-fixing investigation on Sept. 10 from US Integrity, which monitors suspicious activity in the sports/sports betting space for regulators, sportsbooks, teams and leagues.
The CFA issue was a last-minute addition to the agenda for the MGC’s Sept. 12 meeting. The commission’s sports wagering operations manager, Andrew Steffen, told commissioners at the meeting that, as of that morning, all Massachusetts sports wagering operators were offering betting markets for matches in the Chinese Super League, which is overseen by the CFA.
The commission’s sports wagering division recommended a temporary suspension of CFA betting. Commissioners, however, determined that a non-temporary suspension was more appropriate. That means that in the future, a Massachusetts sports betting operator would have to submit a request to have the CFA re-added to the Massachusetts Sports Wagering Catalog. After that, the request would have to go through the MGC’s processes and get final commissioner approval.
This is the second betting ban the MGC has issued in a month’s time. Massachusetts commissioners voted to prohibit betting on the International Boxing Association during an Aug. 15 meeting.
Investigations revealed widespread corruption in CFA
Along with organizing the Chinese national team and the Chinese FA Cup, the CFA also oversees China’s men’s and women’s professional leagues.
The ongoing corruption investigations found that 120 CFA matches involving 41 teams had been fixed. This has led to the lifetime ban of several players and other officials. The General Administration of Sport of China announced the findings and bans at a Sept. 10 press conference. Officials also announced that 44 people were facing criminal charges for bribery and gambling as a result of the investigation.
In March, the CFA’s former chair, Chen Xuyuan, received a life sentence for accepting millions of dollars in bribes. Last month, ex-CFA vice president Li Yuyi was also convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
