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:
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.
The Sport and Recreation Alliance and the physical activity sector have published an open letter to the Government on the impact of Pathways to Work on disabled people and activity levels across the UK.
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Here, we seek to update you on some of the key workstreams we’re focused on, as well as provide an overview of the ways in which you, our members, can foster more inclusive, equitable, and diverse environments for your organisations, including advertising some of the training options we provide (at discount!) and job postings too.
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Here is an end-of-week wrap on some key workstreams we’re undertaking for you, our members, that we want to bring to your attention. It covers a number of important pieces of information for consideration or action.
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