London Olympics organisers addressing match fixing

London Olympics organisers and bookmakers to hold betting summit
Meeting thought to be first of its kind is expected to discuss how to deal with threat of illegal gambling during 2012 Games
Simon Goodley guardian.co.uk

Organisers of the London Olympics will meet leading UK bookmakers on Tuesday in an effort to tackle the threat of illegal gambling scandals during the Games.

In what is thought to be the first formal meeting of the gambling industry and Olympics officials, Paquerette Girard Zappelli, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) head of ethics, Kendrah Potts, the lead lawyer on betting and doping at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), and Nick Tofiluk, head of regulation at the Gambling Commission, will hold discussions with betting industry representatives in Westminster.

The agenda remains secret but it is understood to focus on how the various bodies will deal with potential betting corruption around the Games and how suspect betting patterns will be communicated between officials.

The meeting comes in the wake of the trial of three Pakistan cricketers convicted over spot-fixing during the 2010 Lord's Test against England, as well as that of the former Essex fast bowler Mervyn Westfield, who was jailed for four months after admitting receiving £6,000 to deliberately bowl poorly in a match against Durham in September 2009.

Last year the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, told the Guardian that betting-related corruption was as big a threat to the integrity of sport as doping.

"It is a world problem and it is a very pernicious problem. With the introduction of broadband, you can bet worldwide," he said. "The danger is that from illegal betting comes match-fixing and you see more and more attempts to manipulate matches. It is as dangerous as doping for the credibility of sport. It's only the beginning of a huge battle."

Similar views were expressed by the Conservative peer and chairman of the British Olympic Association, Lord Moynihan, during a House of Lords debate last month. He warned of a "potential scourge" of corrupt betting that could "seriously damage" the legacy of the Games and the integrity of the sport, and claimed that only a "few tentative steps" had been taken to address how the Games could fight suspicious betting and event-fixing.

The exact level of the threat of Olympic betting corruption is contested. The betting industry says the Olympics will attract hardly any interest from punters and will certainly be dwarfed by football's European Championships, which also take place this summer. One industry insider said: "The reality is that the Olympics is a very small event in betting terms. The threat seems to have been overstated."

British bookmakers say any corrupt bets will almost certainly be placed with illegal bookmakers overseas, although the global nature of the industry means that clues to those bets can show up in regulated markets.

Tuesday's summit will be chaired by Mike O'Kane, the trading director at Ladbrokes and chief bookmaker at the European Sports Security Association, the industry's integrity body. The sports minister Hugh Robertson was invited but will not be attending. Instead the Department for Culture Media and Sport will send a civil servant, Andrew Scattergood, from its Olympic executive.


London Olympics organizers to meet bookmakers to avert potential betting threat

London, Mar 19(ANI): Organisers of the London Olympics will meet leading UK bookmakers to avert an illegal gambling threat during the Games.

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) head of ethics, Paquerette Girard Zappelli, lead lawyer on betting and doping at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), Kendrah Potts and Gambling Commission head Nick Tofiluk, will hold discussions with betting industry representatives in Westminster.

The agenda remains secret, but is believed to focus on how various bodies will tackle potential betting corruption and how suspect betting patterns will be communicated between officials.

The meeting comes in the wake of the trial of three Pakistan cricketers convicted for spot-fixing during the 2010 Lord's Test against England, and former Essex fast bowler Mervyn Westfield jailed for four months after admitting receiving 6,000 pounds to deliberately bowl poorly in a 2009 match against Durham.

The exact level of the threat of Olympic betting corruption is disputed as the betting industry said the Olympics will attract hardly any interest from punters.

"The reality is that the Olympics is a very small event in betting terms. The threat seems to have been overstated," the Guardian quoted an industry insider, as saying.

IOC President Jacques Rogge had earlier said that betting-related corruption was a threat to the integrity of sport.

"It is a world problem and it is a very pernicious problem. With the introduction of broadband, you can bet worldwide. The danger is that from illegal betting comes match-fixing and you see more and more attempts to manipulate matches. It is as dangerous as doping for the credibility of sport. It's only the beginning of a huge battle," he added. (ANI)