Suspicious betting patterns to be monitored at Games

A daily meeting involving the Gambling Commission, police and Games organisers LOCOG, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Border Agency will take place during London 2012 to monitor any suspicious betting patterns. These will be flagged up to Interpol and the IOC who are likely to pass the details on to the chef de mission of the team involved – although the exact action that will be taken following any alert has yet to be decided.

Authorities will have no direct power to prevent athletes from competing, however, even if there are suspicious patterns.

British athletes are banned from betting on any Olympic sport under their Team GB contract but that does not apply automatically to the rest of the world.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has said illegal betting is one of the biggest threats to London 2012, and British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson yesterday announced the daily monitoring meetings.

Moynihan said: “What is being put in place is a comprehensive structure of support to assess the extent of any undue movements in the market.

“The betting exchanges will also be monitored closely as there is the possibility of betting to lose.”

Robertson added: “Up until this point illegal betting has not been a huge problem at the Olympics but it was difficult to monitor in Beijing (in 2008) and this is a new threat and an evolving threat.”

Meanwhile, Moynihan confirmed a recent poll of British athletes suggested that support among them for a lifetime ban for drugs cheats had dropped to 70 per cent.

The BOA have always stated support levels were over 90 per cent for their by-law.

Moynihan said: “A recent poll showed 70 per cent in favour and 12 per cent don’t knows. If it is 70 per cent then we are very pleased with that.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hold a hearing in a fortnight to determine whether the BOA’s lifetime ban complies with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code. The court’s decision is expected in April.

Moynihan added: “Timing is critical.

“The sooner we can get a determination, the sooner the athletes will know where they stand in relation to possible selection for the team this summer.

“The strength of our case remains strong.

“It is our determination that our selection policy will not render eligible anyone who has taken performance-enhancing drugs to cheat clean athletes out of selection.”