A Comparative Study of Criminal Law Regulation of Match-Fixing and the Domestic Stance

The manipulation of sports competitions undermines the ethical ecology of sports and the order of fair competition, and while there is a need for judicial intervention, its criminal intervention remains considerably controversial in academia. The manipulation of sports competitions lacks an independent need for protection at the level of legal interests and lacks independent normative implications at the technical level. Therefore, establishing a separate crime of match-fixing is neither criminally punishable nor necessary. A typological analytical approach should be adopted: within the existing criminal law framework, a systematic interpretation should be employed to achieve precise classification and treatment. Specifically, bribery-type manipulation should be regulated by existing bribery offenses; gambling-type manipulation should be punished under fraud crimes; and pure-type manipulation should not be criminalized but rather left to administrative supervision and industry self-regulation.