Written by London 2012 – Police Prepared For Corruption
We’re now slightly less than a year away from the London Olympics, the stadia are in place,
the tickets have all been sold and everything is on course. The police however, are taking measures to ensure that the possibility of corruption is minimised as much as possible.
We normally associate match-fixing with sports such as tennis, snooker and occasionally soccer, but International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge is in no doubt that the London Olympics can just as easily be targeted. Interviewed last month by an English newspaper, he said:
“The danger is that from illegal betting comes match-fixing and you see more and more attempts to manipulate matches. It is as dangerous as doping for the credibility of sport. It’s only the beginning of a huge battle.”
With the proliferation of broadband internet access to the farthest reaches of most countries, opportunities for illegal gambling become more and more available. With illegal gambling of course come attempts to sway the participants involved in the sport one way or another. In fact the Olympic Games may be particularly susceptible to this – thousands of competitors, dozens of different sports and most of the participants are not highly paid sports stars. That’s not to say they are all morally bankrupt of course, but it only takes a few bad eggs to taint the whole show.
So how can the police combat these attempts to influence events? The British authorities already have some of the most effective anti-corruption laws in place and new changes in legislation will allow the UK’s Gambling Commission substantive access to police information.
Essentially it’s all about information sharing and the legislation will add several international sporting bodies to the list of those able to share and access data. These include UEFA, the IOC itself, the International Tennis Federation, the International Cricket Council, the International Rugby Board and FIFA (no stranger to corruption issues itself), among others.
The Gambling Commission will also be requiring online casinos and sportsbooks located offshore to be licensed if they are offering services to UK customers. This will mean they will also be included in the data sharing agreement.
