The Betting Integrity Stakeholder Seminar in UK Deemed as Productive

The Betting Integrity Stakeholder Seminar held earlier this week in London was attended by the Remote Gambling Association representatives as well as UK Gambling Commission, Olympic authorities and prominent figures from online sportsbooks in United Kingdom.

The Seminar resulted in a Statement of Intent (SOI), to which the betting industry operating in compliance with British gambling laws agreed to subscribe during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The main principles of the SOI require the betting industry signatories hosted in other jurisdictions than UK, to report suspicious sports betting activities directly to the Joint Assessment Unit. British gambling operators are already required by regulations to do so.

All SOI signatories have also agreed not to accept bets from International Olympic Committee accredited individuals and agreed to monitor their systems on a 24/7 basis during the Games to prevent illegal betting.

Ladbrokes business director and head bookmaker at the European Sports Security Association, Mike O’Kane, told United Kingdom gambling news: “The afternoon was very constructive with all involved getting to grips with how we can work together to limit any threat of betting-related corruption during London 2012.”

He went on to add: “From the betting industry’s point of view, we explained how we will, as is often typical, go above and beyond our statutory duties. By remaining vigilant and having expert monitoring systems and robust reporting processes, the regulated betting industry is confident there is little risk of betting corruption posed on our legal licensed markets.”

O’Kane concluded by saying: “While it is true that the industry has seen no instances of betting-related integrity breaches in past Olympics, working collaboratively with the Joint Assessment Unit gives us the best chance of ensuring the integrity of the London 2012 Games is not threatened by betting. In this regard, the seminar has proved invaluable.”

The head of regulation at the Gambling Commission, Nick Tofiluk, also commented on the Seminar: “The Gambling Commission’s Sports Betting Intelligence Unit (SBIU), the IOC and the Metropolitan Police will be operating a Joint Assessment Unit during the period of the games to assess and investigate any allegations or suspicions of wrongdoing in regard to sports betting integrity.”

He also said that “This was a very constructive event and we welcome the support of The European Sports Security Association (ESSA) to our Games times planning on sports betting integrity – sports authorities, law enforcement agencies and the legal betting industry here and abroad are working together to counter the threat.”