OLY:IOC wants govts to act on illegal betting

LONDON, Feb 1 AP – Olympic officials want governments to do more to tackle illegal betting, match fixing and other corrupt activities, which they say could pose a bigger threat to sport than doping.

The International Olympic Committee will host a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday of sports leaders, government ministers, licensed betting operators, lottery companies and the international police agency Interpol.

The meeting, which comes less than six months before the London Olympics, will act on a series of recommendations for cracking down on the multibillion-dollar illegal sports gambling industry.

“We absolutely need governments to wake up to the magnitude of the problem,” IOC director general Christophe De Kepper said on Wednesday.

“This is affecting not only the credibility of sports, but it’s a criminal activity that moves very quickly around the world.”

Interpol has estimated that illegal betting is worth $US140 billion ($A132 billion) a year and involves organised crime gangs and money laundering.

“There needs to be an understanding from the public authorities of the threat of criminal networks and the powerful financial transactions involved,” De Kepper said in a telephone interview from Lausanne.

“The threat in our opinion is at least as serious as doping for the credibility of sport, and probably even worse if you look at the sums involved.”

Football and cricket, among other sports, have been rocked by fixing scandals driven by betting scams.

Thursday’s meeting is the second of the IOC anti-corruption group after its initial summit in Lausanne a year ago. The delegates will review recommendations made by three working groups that met in June.

De Kepper said one of the proposals is to establish a “universal code of conduct” for the Olympic movement, including athletes, judges and referees.

Another recommendation urges governments to adopt legislation making “sports fraud” a criminal offence, enabling prosecution and penalties for match-fixing and other activities, De Kepper said.

The IOC is intent on taking action before the London Olympics, which will run from July 27 to August 12, but said the threats are greater outside the games.

“We have been told by experts that most probably the Games are not the priority target either for illegal or irregular betting,” De Kepper said. “But we have the measures in place so that if something happened we would be ready to act.”

Publisher: AAPNewswire

02 Feb 10:42 AM