Bangladesh Cricket Board to combat illegal betting with match-fixing ban

Abi Bray

16 December 2025 at 7:17am UTC-5

Source: Shutterstock

Email, LinkedIn, and more

As part of a wider crackdown on illegal betting, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has confirmed that it will make match-fixing a criminal offense after players in the Bangladesh Premier League were flagged for suspicious activity, following the promotion of sports betting ads by broadcast platforms.

The news was confirmed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s Integrity Units legal counsel, Mahin M Rahman, speaking exclusively with Telecom Asia Sport.

Article continues below ad

He confirmed that the Bangladesh Cricket Board would work with government authorities to introduce legal frameworks targeting fixing and corruption in sport.

The new framework has been proposed to simplify and provide structure for addressing corruption, as current frameworks deal with corruption through both the Anti-Corruption Code and the Gambling Act.

Mahin said, “There will be a specific law that clearly addresses fixing and corrupt practices in cricket and other sports. It will fall under criminal law, but as a separate statute – much like a Gambling Act.”

Article continues below ad

The reform follows an investigation into the Bangladesh Premier League, which led to the banning of nine players. The legislation follows in the footsteps of other countries, such as Sri Lanka, which has already criminalized match-fixing with targeted legislation.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is expected to approach the government after the next election, scheduled for February 12, 2026.

The Bangladesh Bank has also been working to enforce gambling regulation, as last month it directed mobile financial service providers to halt transactions associated with online gambling, following instructions from the Information and Communication Technology Division.

Abi Bray brings strong researching skills to the forefront of all of her writing, whether it’s the newest slots, industry trends or the ever changing legislation across the U.S, Asia and Australia, she maintains a keen eye for detail and a passion for reporting.

View Abi Bray's bio and articles.

Locations:

Verticals:

Sports Betting

Sectors:

Topics:

Dig Deeper

The Backstory

Why this push is arriving now

Bangladesh’s cricket authorities are moving to treat match fixing as a criminal offense after a string of integrity breaches in the Bangladesh Premier League and rising public pressure to curb online gambling. The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s plan, expected to be taken to the government after national elections set for Feb. 12, 2026, follows internal probes that led to bans for multiple players and sustained scrutiny of betting promotions around broadcasts. The timing reflects a broader policy shift: courts and regulators have already begun choking off the advertising and payments pipelines that enable illicit wagering.

In June, the High Court intensified the campaign by ordering the government to stop the promotion of offshore betting across social and mainstream media. In a pointed directive, the court told ministries and law enforcement to form a seven-member committee and report back within 90 days on steps to halt such ads. That ruling, detailed in a report on how the High Court ordered the government to ban online gambling ads, raised the stakes for officials by questioning whether their prior inaction might be unlawful.

The executive branch soon matched that tone. At a regulatory meeting in Dhaka, a senior adviser said portals running gambling promotions would be blocked without further notice, signaling a shift from warnings to real-time enforcement. Authorities described new web-crawling tools and data sharing to trace betting operators’ ties to mobile financial accounts, part of a planned standard operating procedure for fast takedowns. The hard line — captured in guidance that Bangladesh will shut portals running betting ads immediately — aims to deprive fixers of audience, marketing and payments.

A crackdown that extends off the field

The emerging legal framework for sports integrity sits atop a wider effort to police gambling in the digital economy. Regulators have been directing mobile financial services to block transactions tied to betting, closing an easy on-ramp for illegal operators. Telecom and tech agencies are leaning on carriers, broadband providers and payment firms to disrupt links, IP addresses and Android app distribution that have helped gambling outfits reappear after raids. The coordinated approach — courts, ministries, police, telecom and finance — matters because match fixing is a downstream symptom of an upstream market that thrives on advertising reach and frictionless payments.

Criminalizing fixing adds a sharper tool to a kit now focused on the financial and promotional sides. While the Bangladesh Cricket Board already enforces an anti-corruption code, a specific statute would clarify offenses, deterrence and cross-agency responsibilities. It is a model used in other jurisdictions as sports betting has moved online and across borders. A clear criminal standard, paired with payment interdictions and ad bans, gives prosecutors and integrity units a unified playbook.

Global integrity metrics point to progress — and pressure

The local crackdown aligns with a cautious downturn in suspected manipulation worldwide. A recent survey from Sportradar Integrity Services found 1,108 suspicious events across 70 sports in 2024, a 17% decline year over year. The firm’s AI-driven monitoring flagged fewer questionable contests in Europe and Africa, with soccer seeing an 18% drop in suspicious matches, according to the analysis that Sportradar reports a decline in sports match-fixing. The numbers show integrity systems biting, yet the absolute volume remains high enough to keep regulators and leagues on alert.

For Bangladesh, the global data cuts both ways. On one hand, it suggests coordinated oversight, technology and education can bend the curve. On the other, the persistence of more than one thousand suspect events underscores how quickly incentives can overwhelm patchwork rules. Criminal penalties, when paired with preventive controls, can change the calculus for insiders tempted to leak information or rig outcomes. A comprehensive law that aligns with banking and telecom enforcement closes gaps that manipulators exploit.

Brazil’s playbook: scale and partnerships

Some federations are leaning into scale and external expertise to deter fixers. Brazil extended a long-running partnership with Sportradar to cover more than 8,200 matches a year across men’s and women’s competitions starting in 2025, expanding surveillance to most national championships. The agreement, described in a report on how the Brazilian Football Confederation extended its collaboration with Sportradar, landed as the country recorded a substantial decline in suspicious soccer matches, part of the broader global improvement tracked this year.

Brazil’s approach offers a template: put nearly every official match under the same analytics umbrella, coordinate with global bodies and publicize deterrence. The visibility increases the risks for bad actors while giving leagues common evidence standards. For Bangladesh, which faces a fragmented media and payments environment, the lesson is not to duplicate Brazil’s exact ecosystem but to match its comprehensive scope. Criminalizing fixing would be one pillar alongside monitoring, education and fast response to suspect betting patterns.

Policy momentum in the United States

The United States is also tightening integrity rules as legal sports betting expands state by state. In Florida, lawmakers are advancing legislation to bring daily fantasy sports out of a gray zone while writing tougher penalties for corruption. The proposal would regulate fantasy contests through the state gaming commission, ban prop-style formats and make insider information or match fixing by athletes, coaches or staff a third-degree felony. The measure, outlined as Florida lawmakers moved to legalize DFS and add harsher penalties for match fixing, reflects a dual-track approach: permit tightly defined products but harden enforcement against manipulation.

Florida’s turn highlights a balancing act familiar to regulators worldwide. Legal channels can reduce black-market activity, but they also expand the footprint of betting adjacent to sport. That makes guardrails — from product limits to insider rules — essential. Bangladesh’s decision path differs, given its blanket prohibition on gambling, yet the integrity logic converges: regulators are prioritizing transparency, surveillance and criminal deterrence to insulate competition from betting-linked schemes.

The stakes for Bangladesh cricket

Bangladesh’s planned statute would give prosecutors leverage beyond sporting bans and administrative penalties. It would place match fixing inside the criminal code, clarifying jurisdiction and potential sentences while aligning with banking and telecom crackdowns already underway. With courts pressing the government to rein in gambling advertisements and regulators preparing to shutter noncompliant portals at scale, the legislative move would complete a triangle of ad, payments and enforcement reforms.

The reputational costs of delay are tangible. Domestic leagues risk skepticism from fans and sponsors. International partners watch for credible compliance frameworks before deepening ties. And the data show that even as suspicious events decline globally, the absolute exposure remains significant. Bangladesh’s bet is that a dedicated law, paired with aggressive ad and payments controls, can shift incentives and rebuild confidence ahead of future seasons. If implemented as described by officials and reinforced across agencies, the policy could move the country from episodic crackdowns to a durable integrity regime.