SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The international Olympic Committee (IOC)have announced the set up of a special unit and task force designed to tackle and report on illegal betting and match fixing. The unit is charged with ensuring that event or match fixing does not become a factor in future Olympic Games.
The Special Unit on Match Fixing and Illegal Betting was announced at IOC headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland, and has been designed with the support of multiple sports governing bodies such as FIFA, and he governing authority of athletics, the IAAF. Sports governing bodies will be asked to co-operate in the policies, investigations and rulings of this new unit. IOC member states – the UK, USA and Russia have agreed to help in investigations and set-up of the task force.
The special unit will aim to drive legislation and clarity of betting and betting regulation, as member countries seek regulate gaming and igaming markets. The unit will regulate betting markets and patterns during summer and winter Olympic games and in associated events such as Olympic qualifying.
AN IOC statement read as follows on the subject of illegal bettting – “This unit will work on risk prevention and the dissemination of information and will support the harmonisation of rules of the Olympic and sports movements.These rules will be based on examples from some of the international federations already working on this issue, such as FIFA which has already applied severe sanctions.”
The Olympics Games have thus far been largely unaffected by illegal betting or match-fixing, however the 2012 London Olympic saw suspicions raised when four women’s doubles pairs from South Korea, China and Indonesia deliberately played to lose matches in order to get a more favorable draws. The IOC disqualified and banned all competing pairs.
In 2008 Irish Star Class sailor Peter O’Leary escaped with a warning after betting on a direct competitor to win at the 2008 Beijing Games. O’Leary had placed two bets worth a total of €300 on a British boat to capture the gold in the Star class at odds of 12-1.
The IOC states that all selected Olympic Officials are not allowed to bet on any Olympic events. If they are caught the officials will be fined and banned from their positions.
