CATCHING THE CORRUPT
9 October 2009
IOC sets up new anti-betting system for
Olympics
Further moves to remove temptation and prevent
corruption in international sports were announced this
week by the International Olympic Committee, which is
setting up a new system to watch for corrupt betting
practices linked to Olympic competitions.
IOC
spokesmen said in Copenhagen that the plan is to have
the system in place for the 2010 Vancouver Games. The
monitoring program is part of broadening efforts in
sports to tackle irregular betting and match-fixing,
they confirmed.
Reporting on the latest
developments, the Associated Press news agency revealed
that a new Swiss company, International Sports
Monitoring, will watch betting at the Vancouver Olympics
in February next year and the 2012 London Olympics. It
will analyse information on betting patterns from
400-450 oddsmakers, betting firms and lotteries and flag
any irregularities for investigation.
Athletes at
Vancouver will be educated about the new program. All
those accredited for the games, including athletes, are
barred from betting on Olympic competitions.
At
last year’s Beijing Games, the IOC used a system set up
by FIFA for soccer to watch for irregular betting. The
monitoring found that a wide array of bets were offered
for all Olympic sports, but that bets laid were
generally small -- between $7 to $70; there were no
known cases of irregular betting.
“The results of
the monitoring were very encouraging; there was not much
betting,” IOC member Thomas Bach told the Associated
Press on Sunday. “There was not a single bet where the
alarms started ringing.
“If it happens, it is too
late, so we want to be pro-active and to avoid any kind
of match-fixing.”
UEFA, the governing body of
European soccer, is investigating 40 cases of suspected
match-fixing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup,
mostly involving eastern European clubs. The matches
being scrutinized for suspicious betting patterns
involved early qualifying games that took place over the
last four seasons. Fifteen matches were played in the
last two years.
UEFA has beefed up its warning
system to protect against illegal betting and
match-fixing, and started a special investigation to
clamp down on the problem. Tennis also has a unit to
investigate suspected corruption.
The senior vice
president of the World Lottery Association, Risto
Nieminen, told the AP that the problem of match-fixing
and irregular betting in sports “is far more serious
than people understand.”
“It’s a much larger
threat to sport than doping,” said Nieminen, whose
association groups state lottery and gaming
organizations from 76 countries. “It is really worrying.
I think the most worrying part is if there is a
connection to organized crime.”
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
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