UK bookmakers Betfair, Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill have issued a “statement of intent” aimed at safeguarding the Olympics against betting-related corruption.
The agreement was drawn up following a meeting held in London on 20 March between Olympic officials, the UK Gambling Commission, bookmakers Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Coral, William Hill and Betfair and their representative trade bodies. In the statement, Betfair, Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill have vowed to:
- offer bets with regard for the integrity of the games
- report suspicious betting patterns to the UK Gambling Commission
- not knowingly take a bet from anyone who is accredited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
- offer 24-hour reporting
- suspend or void bets if asked by the Gambling Commission unless their own regulator directs otherwise
- confine media comment on integrity to joint statements with the Gambling Commission and the IOC
Industry bodies the Remote Gambling Association, the European Gaming and Betting Association, the European Sports Security Association and the Association of British Bookmakers have also added their names to the statement. The declaration folows the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) publishing its own guidelines for online operators, which include not linking Games bets to any specific promotions or creating Olympic Games-themed pages or microsites.
The meeting was called in the wake of IOC president Jacques Rogge’s statement last year that illegal betting was now as big a threat to the credibility of sport as doping. Rogge argued that the temptation for Olympic athletes to cheat was greater because they were not paid as much as in other sports. He however also admitted that no evidence had been found of such cheating in the last Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
Olympic officials’ move to gain reassurances from the UK industry over betting-related corruption associated with the Olympics comes despite bookmakers consistently reiterating the point that the 2012 Games will attract little action from punters compared to this summer’s major betting event, the European Football Championships to be held in Poland and Ukraine.
Commenting on Betfair’s commitment ahead of the Games held in London this summer, the betting exchange’s public affairs manager for the UK and Ireland Susannah Gill said that while the regulated betting industry remained confident there was little risk of betting corruption posed on its markets, “this collaborative approach gives us the best chance of ensuring the integrity of the Olympic Games is not threatened by betting.”
