The first meeting to discuss the situation of irregular and illegal betting in Sport was held at the International Olympic Committee headquarters under the Chair of Dr Jacques Rogge President of the IOC, 1st March 2011. There was a significant Irish presence with Pat Hickey representing the European and World Olympic Committees, Susan Ahern – Executive Committee Member of OCI representing the International Rugby Board and Cecilia Keaveney representing the Council of Europe.
In addition, the many representatives also included delegates from the FBI, Interpol and the United Nations. In a joint declaration the participants agreed to examine the following points:-
· The necessity and possibilities for governments, international organisations and sports betting operators to support the sports world in its efforts to protect the integrity of sports competitions;
· The various means to strengthen cooperation between themselves to fight more effectively against all forms of cheating in sport, particularly those linked to irregular and illegal betting;
· The need to evaluate the various existing systems, national laws, self-regulating systems and implementation methods, in order to determine effective methods for cross-border cooperation;
· The need to evaluate the various existing systems of punishment and measures in terms of education;
· The need to seek appropriate methods of funding to support the efforts of the sports movement to protect competitions.
The participants of this first meeting have decided to create a working group to examine the points above and formulate initial conclusions on the measures to be taken between now and the end of 2011.
