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IOC confident of clean London Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is confident it will be able to prevent gangs behind illegal gambling from fixing events at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Christophe De Kepper, Director for the IOC, told Reuters that his organisation is working closely with British authorities to ensure that match-fixing does not blight any of the events.

"Experts are telling us that the Olympics is not a primary target of match-fixing because it is such a huge event, under such scrutiny, that it is a big risk to try to fix competition at the Olympic Games," De Kepper told Reuters.

"We treat this as a serious threat and we have taken measures to be ready in case anyone would want to fix competition at the Olympic Games."

Athletes and officials taking part in any of the events are banned from wagering on the Olympics while UK licensed bookmakers have signed up to scrutinise activity for the duration of the Games and will report any irregularities to the Gambling Commission.

"We will report any suspicious betting," Bill South, a former police officer that now leads security for William Hill, told Reuters.

"The IOC has set up a joint assessment unit for the duration of the Games. All the operators will have around-the-clock reporting. We will suspend or void bets if necessary."

Reuters reported that betting on the Olympic Games is likely to be ‘relatively small' when compared with what bookmakers would take when compared with a weekend of English Premier League football, which should make wrongdoing easier to detect.

"We would offer a market on any event but the chance of all events attracting a market is unlikely," said South.

"Our trading team will make an assessment of what a potential market looks like. The smaller the market, then anything unusual is more likely to be apparent."

De Kepper stated that tackling match-fixing was more complex than his organisation's battle against doping due to the amounts of money that could be at stake.

"The financial impact, the means at stake behind illegal betting are far, far more important than in the criminal/doping network," said De Kepper.

 

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