Sydney, Feb 7 : Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton has claimed any sport that is attracting significant betting offshore like football, cricket and tennis, is at a major risk of getting fixed.

Ashton said a recent Australia-League football match in Melbourne attracted the bets from a single Asian-based bookmaker, the Herald Sun reports.

Ashton added the increasing betting pools mean that they need to take preventative action now to make these sports more resilient to this threat. After this week's revelation that hundreds of global soccer matches were under suspicion, Ashton described match fixing in Australia as imminent.

Ashton said it is a growing area of concern for us, adding this thing is coming down the highway and they have to be prepared. While Ashton would not take direct aim at the Australian Football League (AFL) over allegations of teams tanking, he said competitions that were structured in a way that could encourage it were a concern.

Ashton said one of the things they did learn from overseas was that competition design being a particular risk factor and that if you had a particular design around a competition that encouraged poor performance that was seen as a risk.

Ashton added international crime syndicates responsible for match fixing were currently getting away with supplying performance-enhancing drugs, adding there is lot of money involved in this.

Victorian police are also examining whether they can criminally charge anyone involved in sports doping after a government investigation found widespread use of banned drugs and links with organised crime in Australian sporting codes, the paper reported.

The Australian Crime Commission released the findings of a 12-month investigation into the integrity of Australian sport, concluding that some coaches, sports scientists and support staff of elite athletes have orchestrated the use of prohibited substances. (ANI)