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At a meeting in Lausanne on 2 February 2012, the Working Group on Irregular and Illegal Betting in Sport endorsed a list of measures to combat threats to the integrity of sports competition. The measures are focused around three areas:

• Education
• Monitoring, intelligence and analysis 
• Legislation and regulations

Background

The Working Group was established on 1 March 2011, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge called on representatives from the worlds of sport, betting, government and international organisation to work to counter the 'insidious influence' of criminal networks running irregular and illegal gambling operations. He noted the work done by various international federations and national Olympic committees in setting clear rules and sanctions against irregular and illegal betting and urged other Olympic organisations to follow their example.

The first meeting aimed to put in place a framework for knowledge-sharing and cooperation between the sports world, governments, international organisations and betting operators. It also considered existing enforcement systems, education and methods of funding.

The Working Group later established three subgroups, to work on specific objectives around education; monitoring, intelligence and analysis; and legislation and regulations. The subgroups held meetings in September and November 2011 and set out proposed targets and recommendations in each of the focus areas.

Subgroup recommendations

The education subgroup suggested that the need to educate on rules and responsibilities extends beyond athletes, judges and referees, and covers others involved in sporting competitions including athlete entourages, coaches and all competition officials. Sports organisations should implement education programmes and umbrella sports organisations should ensure that their consultants are educated in rules and sanctions around betting. The subgroup noted that there are many tools available to educate, including learning from other sports. The group also put forward a draft universal code of conduct for use across all sports, giving guidance on how individuals involved in sport should approach betting and inside information.

The monitoring, intelligence and analysis subgroup considered that countries without national betting authorities or regulators should set them up and that such national bodies should work together where possible. Consistency in rules and sanctions across sporting organisations was another recommendation and the experts suggested that a global forum for the exchange of information and ideas would be a helpful step towards harmonisation of rules and betting markets.

The legislation and regulations subgroup recognised the key role that national legislators and regulators would play in the fight against irregular and illegal betting and called for "a national statute creating a criminal offence of sports manipulation linked to betting." The cooperation of international bodies such as Interpol and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) would be essential to assist prosecution authorities at a national level.

Implementation

The broader Working Group considered the various recommendations on 2 February 2012 and agreed the following proposals for implementation:

Education

• Using existing tools and programmes to raise awareness among athletes, their entourage and sports organisations
• Identifying how to reach the widest sporting audience, developing channels and collaborating across authorities and organisations

Monitoring and the exchange of information and intelligence

• Supporting regional public authorities like the Council of Europe to establish a network of national authorities for information exchange 
• Continuing, under the IOC, to communicate about potential common monitoring and information exchange systems, and sharing information with national regulators, international organisations, betting operators and the sports movement

Legislation and regulations

• Encouraging states to put in place laws to combat irregular and illegal sports betting
• Urging sports organisations to update their internal rules and to have effective sanctions 
• Consulting with UNODC, Interpol and European institutions to produce guidelines for international conventions with local government backing, to criminalise illegal and irregular betting

Implications

Although this initiative is being led by the IOC, if it is successful its impact will be felt not simply in relation to the Olympic games but across all sporting events and organisations.

If the Working Group's measures are implemented successfully and embraced by sporting organisations, some of the damage done to the integrity of sport, for example by recent football and cricket match fixing scandals, could be repaired, benefitting legitimate betting operators, governments and fans. However reported figures, due to be released next week, suggest that the Working Group has a difficult task ahead of it. FIFPro (the worldwide union for professional footballers) has conducted a survey of Eastern and Southern European players which, it has been reported, reveals that on average a quarter of players are aware of match fixing in their league. The survey also shows a link between non-payment of salaries and match fixing.

Another notable potential consequence of the implementation of certain of the Working Group's proposals would be the establishment across states, of the criminal offence of betting linked to fraud. The illegal betting industry is said to be worth €140 billion a year, so it has a major impact on sport globally. However, international cooperation would be an essential tool in bringing down organised illegal operations, so without a global body to cooperate and coordinate, national prosecutors find it more difficult job to bring betting offenders to justice.

Next Steps

The Working Group has established a special unit, which is tasked with monitoring implementation of these recommendations. This unit is due to report on its findings at the next meeting of the Working Group.