The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched new anti-gambling measures to ensure there is no suspicion about results at the Beijing Olympic Games which take place in August.
China has an annual gambling turnover worth more than $100 billion and the IOC is keen to ensure no irregular betting occurs on the Olympic events.
The IOC will demand that all athletes, coaches, officials and journalists sign documents giving them their consent that they will avoid gambling or promoting betting companies during the Beijing spectacle.
Switzerland-based firm Early Warning Systems has been hired by the IOC to monitor any suspicious betting patterns on the 302 Olympic events. Early Warning Systems has links with FIFA and over 200 bookmakers across the globe.
It is also believed that many of the bookmakers linked to Early Warning Systems don’t disclose account details, only anonymous betting records.
Betfair bookmakers have criticised the new rules arguing they don’t go far enough and compared the new measures to banning drug taking without testing the athletes.
They believe transparency is required to prevent corruption and access to betting records as well as customer records is needed to properly fight irregular betting.
Betfair’s director of corporate and business affairs, Andrew Twaits said, “Not having access to those details would be like trying to stamp out doping without being able to test the athletes.”
“Gambling-related corruption is a big threat to sport’s integrity as long as there are wagering operators who either don’t know or won’t say who is betting on particular events.”
The decision to keep a close eye on betting at the Olympics was taken at an executive board meeting of the IOC back in December. At that meeting president Jacques Rogge declared his support for a co-ordinated system to tackle any corruption. The IOC had previously been in contact with anti-corruption experts such as International Cricket Council Investigator Paul Condon.
Betting on football and tennis at the Olympics are particularly popular in China. These two sports have both been damaged recently with allegations of irregular betting taking place. Therefore the IOC is keen to prevent and stamp out any corrupt betting for the integrity of the Olympic Games and what it stands for.
