The sports sector has responded to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s report on the effects of the Gambling Act by asking for more resources to be invested in protecting sport from corrupt betting. The report, out today (Tuesday 24 July), assesses the general impact of the Act but makes a number of points specifically about sports betting.
The Sports Betting Group, which is made up of representatives of sport, and chaired by Alliance chief executive Tim Lamb, believes that much more needs to be done to protect sports integrity than is highlighted in the report.
The Group welcomes the Committee’s support for the Government’s proposal to regulate the betting industry on a point-of-consumption basis rather than a point-of-supply basis and the call for a 2014 deadline for implementation. This move would ensure that overseas operators share information with the Gambling Commission and national governing bodies (NGBs) of sport through Licence Condition 15.1 and is considered by the sector to be a vital part of protecting sport’s integrity.
The Committee also suggested that betting integrity should be the responsibility of sports’ governing bodies. In actuality, national governing bodies of sport are already working hard to rewrite rule books and to change their regulations to ensure that new types of bets do not have detrimental effects on their sports. These moves have been assisted by the extensive work of the Sports Betting Group over the past year in pooling the sector’s expertise and creating tools for NGBs to use to protect their sports.
However, the sector believes that without funding to monitor bets or even the ability to input into which types of bets bookmakers take, a national governing body’s task is made very difficult.
Tim Lamb, the Chair of the Sports Betting Group believes that contrary to the Committee’s comments, work on betting integrity should be a core duty of the Gambling Commission.
“The work of the Gambling Commission is vital and their current remit does not seem like mission creep to the sporting sector – only an established organisation with access to data, resource and relationships with law enforcement agencies will have the capacity to ensure suspicious betting is investigated fully. The regulator needs to be well supported and assist NGBs in partnership – something particularly important for small NGBs.
“These are exciting times for sport with the Olympics just days away. But the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, has said that he believes the threat to sport from irregular betting and match fixing is greater than doping. Sport needs resources in order to fight corruption and match fixing – a problem which only exists because of the ever increasing ability to bet on sport. The Gambling Commission needs support to ensure it can counteract the threat, not a shrinking of its role.”
If you would like more information about the Sports Betting Group or sports gambling please email David Foster.
