Yesterday the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published the key recommendations from a report commissioned last June by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe. Former Liverpool Football Club chief executive Rick Parry and a panel of sports betting integrity experts have said that the best way to tackle the threat of betting corruption in sport is to establish a national cross-sports integrity unit. The Minister commissioned the report following rising numbers of suspicious betting cases being reported to the Gambling Commission.

The proposed Sports Betting Intelligence Unit would be charged with having an effective investigation process in place and an efficient means of handling intelligence from sports and betting. When appropriate an investigation could lead to disciplinary action under sports’ rules or criminal prosecution. The report made a number of other recommendations, including an education programme on sports betting integrity for competitors run by sports governing bodies and players associations.

Rick Parry commented, “The report that I’ve delivered to the Minister today presents a clear way forward in tackling the growing threat of corruption to the integrity of sport. We have to take the toughest possible approach if we want to stamp out cheating – and that’s why it’s so vitally important that the recommendations are taken on board and followed through. This should be a no compromise approach – the panel has identified a number of areas that need work and we now need the full sign up of the Government, the gambling industry, sports governing bodies, the Police and the Gambling Commission to put them into practice.”

Other key proposals were the setting up of a Sports Betting Group made up of individuals from the world of sport to asses sports’ compliance with a new code of conduct for all sports governing bodies; and each sport to have an intelligence capturing system to make regular reports to the Sports Betting Intelligence Unit. The report also suggested the need for a review of the definition of ‘cheating’ in the Gambling Act 2005 and a review of the Gambling Commission’s investigative powers to ensure they are sufficient to best tackle corruption in sports betting. Finally the report recommended a review of the maximum 2 year sanction under the Gambling Act.

The integrity panel, chaired by Rick Parry, included eminent names from many sports as well as experts in the field of betting: Darren Bailey, Director of Football Governance and Regulation at the Football Association; Simon Barker, Director of the Professional Players Federation and ex-professional footballer; Dave Boyle, Chief Executive, Supporters Direct; Nic Coward, Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority; Chris Caisley, Head of Sports Law Group and Partner at Walker Morris; Mark Davies, Managing Director of Betfair; Ben Gunn CBE, QPM, sport integrity expert; Mike O’Kane, Group Trading Director, Ladbrokes; Ian Seabridge, Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and ACPO lead on Gambling; Mike Smith, Chairman, Tote; Bill South, Director of Security, William Hill; and Nick Tofiluk, Director of Regulation, Gambling Commission. (E-02.02.10)

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