Undoubtedly, recent betting scandals — Pakistan’s cricket spot-betting scandal and the discovery of suspicious Australian Rugby League betting patterns last year, for example — have brought a number of sports a great deal of unwanted attention and bad publicity. Consequently, any sporting committee is eager to avoid any similar gambling controversy.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is no different, and it has decided to confront the gambling issue in a wholly straightforward manner by publicly endorsing regulated betting on events at the London 2012 Olympics.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, said: “Specifically, we are in favor of a system where betting operators have to be licensed by the government.”
Billions of dollars are expected to be wagered throughout the Olympics, and Rogges is said to endorse a system of regulation which would see a certain degree of gambling profits redistributed among the nations taking part.
Rogges said: “Sports organizers, national federations, and international federations would have a fair return for all their efforts for organizing the sport. They should be recognized with a return from financial income.”
The IOC also endorse a regulated gambling because such a regulated gambling market ensures that activities such as race-fixing, or other such betting scandals, are much more difficult to conduct. Indeed, by working with a regulated gambling industry, the IOC is confident that the necessary safeguards which detect suspicious gambling activity can be easily put into place.
The IOC has recruited the International Sports Monitoring (ISM) board to over see all of betting action which relates to the London 2012 Olympics. The ISM is already said to have communicated with a number of European online sportsbooks who have agreed to share betting patterns with others online sportsbooks. In doing so, suspicious betting activity will become much more easily identifiable.
The IOC, then, certainly appears to have taken all of the correct steps to ensure a scandal-free and profitable tournament for all; however, some gambling industry insiders do harbour some reservations. Indeed, within the industry there are people who are unhappy with the effect which worldwide regulation would have financially speaking. Indeed, at present, online sportsbooks only pay taxes in those locations in which they are licensed; however, the system proposed by the IOC, in which gambling profits would be shared with participating teams, would required this tax system to be expanded.
Clearly, then, there are still a number of issues which need ironing out before the picture of what gambling and the 2012 London Olympics looks like will become clearer. However, the fact that a sporting event of such magnitude as the Olympics is being held in a country in which online gambling is legal ensures that, in summer 2012, there will be a massive amount of gambling action on each Olympic event.
