IOC Hopes to Prevent Scandals with New Olympic Gambling Rules

The IOC hopes that preventative Olympic gambling rules will help keep the international event free from betting and match-fixing.

It’s nothing new to gambling news that international sport is currently being plagued by cheating and corruption scandals. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is hoping to keep the same from happening to their own events by establishing Olympic gambling rules.

Says IOC president Thomas Bach of the new Olympic gambling code, which addresses issues like match-fixing: “We must do everything we can to protect the millions of clean athletes around the world. Protecting them goes hand-in-hand with ensuring the environment in which the athletes operate is safe from corrupting influences.”

New Olympic gambling rules are their first of their kind

It may come as a shocker to sports fans that no Olympic gambling code had previously existed before this one. The IOC decided to take action and make things official because of the constant barrage of news of bribery, throwing of events, doping, and more in recent international sporting events.

Says Bach: “Today’s publication of the code is an important first step in fighting manipulation sport.”

The new Olympic gambling code—that will take affect at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, which kick off in early August—forbids competing athletes from betting on events, match-fixing, and from divulging inside information to gamblers, casinos, and online gambling sites. Bach has called on Olympic committees all over the world to adopt the rules immediately.