| Betfair Agrees Partnership with IOC |
Leading UK bookmaker Betfair has agreed a partnership deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that will see irregular betting patterns identified and dealt with during this summer’s 2012 Olympic Games in London.Betfair and the IOC will exchange data in an effort to target and tackle irregular betting patterns relating to events that will be taking place at this summer’s Olympic Games.
The deal will enable the IOC to request and gain access to personal details of members that bet suspiciously on the bookmaker’s website. The two parties had a similar deal agreed during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in an effort to eradicate spot-fixing during the event.
Betfair confirmed that it will use its own software and in-house support team to identify suspicious activity and will pass on any information gathered to the IOC to deal with.
The Chief and Regulatory Affairs Officer for Betfair, Martin Cruddace, said “The interests of sports’ governing bodies like the IOC and Betfair are completely aligned in wanting to ensure consumers can bet on sporting events in a transparent and secure manner.”
Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport and Olympics, stated “You cannot underestimate the threat this poses because the moment that spectators start to feel that what they are seeing is not a true contest that is when spectators stop turning up and the whole thing turns to pieces.”
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