What sport in the UK is doing to tackle corruption and match fixing in sport

Following the guilty verdicts in the corruption trial of the Pakistani cricketers yesterday (1 November 2011), we thought it would be timely to share what the Sport and Recreation Alliance has been doing to tackle the spectre of corrupt betting in the UK. In 2008, the sports betting industry was worth £38bn and continues to grow.

A Sports Betting Group has been established. This was one of the recommendations of the government-commissioned report into sports betting integrity by Rick Parry. Its remit is to co-ordinate sport’s anti-corruption efforts.

The Sport and Recreation Alliance provides support to the group and it is chaired by the Alliance’s chief executive, Tim Lamb.

The report also recommended the creation of a sports betting intelligence unit within the Gambling Commission.

The Sports Betting Group has:

• Conducted a thorough audit of what defences governing bodies have in place against corruption
• Held an event for governing bodies with Sir Craig Reedie, the sports minister Hugh Robertson and Rick Parry to explore ways of supporting sport in its efforts to fight corrupt betting practices
• Begun work on a voluntary code of practice to assist NGBs to protect themselves against threats to their integrity
• Engaged in a series of tripartite meetings with the Gambling Commission and betting operators to tackle issues relating to corruption. The meetings have resulted in the creation of a ‘technical forum’ which will discuss, inter alia, how the risk around ‘novelty bets’ can be reduced.

In addition the Sport and Recreation Alliance has been active lobbying ministers to strengthen the regulatory environment around sports betting. The most recent success was the decision by minister John Penrose to require off-shore betting companies who operate in the UK to be fully licensed. This will ensure that off-shore betting companies (the vast majority) will be subject to the same high standards required of those operating in the UK – including licensing requirement 15.1 – which ensures that companies share any information about suspicious betting patterns with the Gambling Commission and with national governing bodies.

We are now focusing on resolving other issues for sport including how governing bodies can help determine what types of betting can be made on their sport.

We are also working at EU-level. We have had meetings with the EU Commission and, more recently, dialogue with the Polish presidency to examine how match-fixing can be addressed across the EU.

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