The Proposal moves from the consistent background of ongoing actions against match-fixing by Italian stakeholders: AAMS (State Monopolies  Agency) through the Monitoring Unit GASS;  betting operators through Units UISS and GISS (involving police forces), since 2011; League Serie B, League PRO and AIC (Football Players Association) through coherent training initiatives since 2013; NGO Transparency International Italy has very effectively implemented in 2014 the EU project http://www.stop-match-fixing-italia.org/) within a wide EU cooperation context; Catholic University has developed an innovative solid survey: http://www.stop-match-fixing-italia.org/1/upload/indaginematchfixing_italia.pdf ; international research centers UNICRI and ISPAC, based in Italy, have recently studied sport crime as topic: (http://ispac.cnpds.org/report-ispac-international-conference-on-criminal-threats-and-international-answers-44.html); Palermo (Sicily) Commerce Chamber Front Desk against illegal practices, a very advanced practice in advising companies threatened by organized crime, has initiated in 2014 a program on sport market distortions by illegal practices; Italian legislation and law enforcement authorities are recognized as updated and proactive.Most of all, the Italian Government Sport Office has significantly contributed to the COE Convention on Match-Fixing and implemented the basis for a first international PP cooperation platform during the EU Italian Semester Presidency: http://www.ad-hoc-network-against-match-fixing.net/.

This background is very functional to foster effective EU public-private cooperation, also because this dynamics is already taking place within a context of consistent European-international exchange processes. The Project aims at taking profit from this “high-potential” situation to generate a significant “quantitative/qualitative upgrade” in the EU private/public cooperation against match-fixing, focusing on preventing organized crime use of sports betting, through: a) using the Italian case as an applicative terrain to develop a possible European shared model by a selection of EU practices; b) testing and first tuning it in Italy; c) preparing the ground for its possible application in other EU Member States, with the necessary local national or regional declination. The project promotes an “integrated approach” with a set of tools operating in strict coordination, by a “tested formula” assembling four components (with possible declinations): 1) understanding; 2) practice sharing; 3) methodized instruments elaboration; 4) replication by tailored declination to local specificities.

Consequently, the objectives are four: 1) A Qualitative Analysis to elaborate a “Synoptic Integrated Frame”, a “reference navigation map” for the “complex territory” of match-fixing, functional to all interacting actors for common policies; 2) Establishing a permanent EU “Coordination Room”, with an embedded shared Data Repository, to identify the good practices for the model to be tested in Italy, and to prepare the ground for further diffusion; 3) Setting up of a Private Public Cooperation Integrated Procedure For Prevention to extend the capacity of preliminary identification of risky situations; 4) Activation of an innovative Protected Reporting System.

The activities are structured in 6 work-packages, with a communication area to ensure proper internal/external flux of information, a crucial component for success. The project lasts 21 months.

Beneficiaries are all private and public stakeholders in sport, since the action involves all subject typologies. Thanks to the creation of an environment well aware of and empowered in a wide EU sharing process, the expected outcome is a significant upgrade in the private-public cooperation capacity to prevent betting usage for criminal purposes, specially identifying sports betting risks in advance, so that integrated mechanisms generate faster responses by all actors and mainly by police forces.