Analysis of sports betting in the Iran's legal system

The present study, while reviewing the prevalence of sports betting in Iran, reviews the policies and legal approaches in Iran's criminal law regarding sports betting.

The present study was based on the analytical method and interpretation of legal materials and was carried out by referring to library resources and reviewing previous research.

In Iran, despite the fact that sports betting has increased over the past few years and the statistics of political and judicial authorities have shown that this phenomenon is becoming a social issue, there is no clear legal approach and coherent policy in dealing with this issue and legal proceedings mainly involve sports betting under Article 705 of the Islamic Penal Code and the perpetrators are being prosecuted and sentenced as gambling.

It seem that the sports betting are not covered by Article 705 due to a lack of conformity between the components and elements of gambling. Thus according to the current legal conditions, only the legal documentation is Article 2 of the "Law of intensify the punishment of perpetrators of bribery, embezzlement and fraud" and prosecute sports bettors under the criminal title of "illegally obtaining property".