IOC promotes betting monitoring operations ahead of Winter Olympics

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will start on Friday the 4th. In preparation, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has defined a series of measures to ensure sporting integrity. The Committee has partnered with sports betting and data monitoring organizations such as Sportradar, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS).

Recently announced, this latest partnership will see the GLMS and the IOC collaborate on information sharing and education activities, with both organizations having already cooperated on ‘various editions’ of the Olympic Games as well as awareness programmes.

“This agreement will enhance cooperation between the GLMS and the IOC to protect the integrity of sport and enable a more cohesive approach between sports and the lottery world,” said Luca Esposito, Secretary General of the GLMS and Executive Director of the World Lottery Association ( WLA).

IOC set up global network to monitor betting market

Both the IOC and the GLMS are observers of the Statutory Committee of the International Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (Macolin Convention), and intend to leverage the new agreement to develop synergies between the lottery and sports sectors.

Friedrich Martens, Head of the Olympic Movement Unit for the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions at the IOC, added: “sport and especially our flagship event, the Olympic Games, free from manipulation. We are happy to sign this agreement with GLMS, which will allow us to further strengthen our cooperation.”

In addition, the Council of Europe’s network of national platforms – the Copenhagen Group – as well as leading betting regulatory authorities and a large number of international gaming companies will also participate in the IOC’s 24/7 betting monitoring operations at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Monitoring will also be carried out by the Unit of the Olympic Movement for the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions (OM PMC Unit) using its IBIS platform and in collaboration with its partners.

In addition to monitoring betting, the OM Unit PMC – which will provide full oversight of integrity measures for the first time since its inception in 2017 – has carried out a ‘full assessment’ of the seven winter sports and 15 disciplines of the Beijing 2022 program against risks arising from manipulation linked to sports betting, with information shared with International Sports Federations (IFs).

By maintaining its cooperation with the IFs throughout the tournament, the OM PMC Unit will flag any violations of the Olympic Movement Code for the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions to the organizations, in addition to collaborating with the authorities.

IOC convened athletes to fight match-fixing

To raise awareness of the threat of betting manipulation at the Olympics, the IOC has hired eight brand ambassadors – former and current athletes – representing eight sports and eight countries.

To raise awareness of the threat of betting manipulation at the Olympics, the IOC has hired eight brand ambassadors – former and current athletes – representing eight sports and eight countries.

Emma Terho (ice hockey, Finland, chairman of the IOC Athletes’ Commission), Pernilla Wiberg (skiing, Sweden) and Yang Yang (speed skating, China) also joined the group of brand ambassadors.

The IOC launched a special campaign, ‘Make the Right Decisions’, promoting educational material such as a ‘self-explanatory’ Code of Conduct available in 20 languages, along with an online course and preventive tools, among other offerings. In this way, the International Olympic Committee aims to make players aware of match manipulation and distribute the code of conduct.