Over the past six months the UK online gambling trade body, the Remote Gambling Association, has been engaged in a wide-ranging consultation on sports betting (including horse and greyhound racing), most notably with regard to commercial and integrity issues.
This has been response to an increasing focus on the sports betting and corruption issue, notably by some EU member states and sporting organisations in recent years.
The principle focus of the consultation, in which a DCMS official on secondment to the RGA has been involved, is to explore the situation in more detail and present RGA members with an informed and objective overview.
“It is our intention to identify ways in which the relationship with national and international sporting organisations might usefully be developed. The main international sporting organisations, such as the IOC and FIFA, have been approached to respond to the consultation, as have all of the EU’s Member States and a number of other interested parties,” an RGA spokesman said recently.
The consultation has additionally been open to any party that had an interest. There were four questionnaires specifically designed for: sporting organisations; governments and gambling regulators; non-RGA betting operators and trade associations; and other interested parties in a consultation process that ran from 1st July 2009 until 14 August 2009 and was followed by oral consultations with selected parties.
Jason Foley-Train – the DCMS official seconded to RGA for the purpose – has authored a detailed report on the findings, which will be published for the first time at the upcoming Betting Show at Earls Court between 26th-28th January.