ILLEGAL AND IRREGULAR BETTING PRACTICES:SPORTS ORGANISERS and federations should receive a cut from betting revenues and governments need to issue tighter controls on sports gambling, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said in Berlin yesterday.

Speaking on the eve of a meeting with government ministers, Interpol and European bodies on illegal and irregular betting practices, Rogge said the IOC favoured a greater government involvement in betting practices.

“Specifically we are in favour of a system where betting operators have to be licensed by the government,” said Rogge in a conference call, adding this would help monitor irregular betting patterns and also the companies’ financial flows.

“Sports organisers, national federations and international federations would have a fair return for all their efforts for organising the sport. They should be recognised with a return from financial income,” Rogge added.

At the moment, legal sports betting operates in different ways in many countries, with some exercising a strict control through a state monopoly and others having liberalised the market.

Government ministers from Australia, France, Switzerland and Britain will also attend the meeting at the IOC headquarters in the Swiss city of Lausanne, as well as representatives of the UN and sports betting operators.

“We want to establish links with governments. We want to start with these countries because they have already legislated or are on the verge of legislating. They are aware of the dangers (of illegal and irregular betting),” Rogge said.

He urged governments to monitor betting companies to “control if there is any money laundering”.

“I think you have to assume, like in doping, all sports are affected and none is totally free, but those sports with the biggest audiences will be affected (by illegal and irregular betting). That goes without saying,” said Rogge.

Governments would also assist in cracking down on illegal betting rings through police operations such as phone tapping and luggage searches, he said.

“We cannot do that,” Rogge said.

The IOC introduced irregular betting early warning systems during the Beijing 2008 and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and neither Games showed anything suspicious.

“Nothing was suspicious (in Beijing and Vancouver) and we were glad about that,” Rogge added.

“However, we should not be naive. Sooner or later this might occur in the Olympic Games.”

He said the IOC, which has banned athletes and their entourages from betting during Games, was not looking to set up a task force, similar to what the World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) is for banned substances.

“I am not saying we will have a Wada on betting, but definitely we need a broad collaboration with governments,” said the Belgian, who will step down after 12 years in charge in 2013.