Bookmakers in the UK expect to take as much as £25m in betting on the upcoming general election – more than double the volume bet the last time around in 2005.
With the introduction of a sports betting right pending in France, leading rights owners are pushing for the adoption of similar regimes across Europe and are lobbying national ministers of sport to that end.
The European Sports Security Association (ESSA), set up by online betting companies to detect possible corruption, favours the creation of a global disciplinary body, akin to the Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), to maintain the integrity of sport.
A new lobbying group, including the European football leagues and other major rights holders in professional sport, is to hold its first meeting with top government officials next month and betting will figure prominently on the agenda for discussion.
Cricket is poised to introduce a new worldwide anti-corruption code tightening up rules on player conduct in the sport, including betting on matches and passing information to bookmakers.
Cooperation between sports bodies and betting operators in the area of ensuring integrity is gathering momentum, according to delegates at a recent sports law forum in London, and there are signs of mounting pressure for operators to make some form of financial contribution to sport in the future.
The General Association of International Sport Federations (GAISF), umbrella organisation of the world’s sports governing bodies, is re-launching itself under a surprise new brand - Sportaccord - and its president, Dutchman Hein Verbruggen, has identified betting as a priority area in a new strategy of unified action by the federations.
A new player tracking technology launched last week for Major League Soccer in the United States is being developed as an anti-corruption application for the international betting business.
After finding no concerns at the Beijing Olympics, the systematic monitoring of online sports betting to detect suspicious activity made further progress in recent weeks as the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) signed new cooperation agreements with governing bodies including US professional hockey’s NHL.
The Olympic sport of skiing has indicated that it is open to having a betting company as the title sponsor of top-tier events, even though the International Ski Federation (FIS) recently rejected a sponsorship offer from the betting sector.
