Australia to impose 10-year jail terms for cricket match fixing

CANBERRA, (Reuters) – Australia will impose  tough new penalties of up to 10 years in jail for match-fixing  and betting on fixed matches after a meeting of the country’s  national and state law ministers, Sports Minister Mark Arbib  said today.
The move follows a series of betting and match-fixing  scandals involving international cricket, highlighted by     Pakistan’s Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif being  jailed for fixing parts of a test match in England last year.
“We want to make sure we do everything possible to send a  message to those people who want to be involved in match fixing  that there will be jail time, and it won’t be a light  punishment,” Arbib said today.
Attorneys-general from Australia’s national government and  from the six states and two territories agreed to pass uniform  laws across the country to stamp out corruption in sport.
Leading Australian online sports betting agencies  Sportsbet.com.au, betfair.com, centrebet.com and sportingbet all  welcomed the development, which they said would help protect  sport from gambling-related corruption.
“Our industry has a zero tolerance policy towards  match-fixing in sport,” said Sportsbet executive chairman  Matthew Tripp.